


Arts and Crafts

by snack_size



Category: Pacific Rim
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Kaiju, Kid Fic, M/M, Raleigh is a Preschool Teacher, Team Hot Dads
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-31
Updated: 2014-01-14
Packaged: 2018-01-06 21:52:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 36,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1111919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snack_size/pseuds/snack_size
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chuck Hansen is home after graduating from college, searching for a job - and, as part of the arrangement, gets stuck dropping his four year-old sister Lucy off at preschool every morning. </p><p>He stops bitching once he meets Mr. Becket. </p><p>Meanwhile, Stacker and Herc run an outdoor adventure company and ropes course assisted by Tendo, Mako is the only person with any common sense, and Yancy is scarily competent.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even know. Which is to say, I wanted to write something fun and fluffy and so when someone suggested the whole Raleigh is a preschool teacher thing I just had to. It sort of spiraled out of control from there, though, and everyone from canon got involved.

“Lunch?” Herc asked.

“Lunch,” Lucy replied, and pat her backpack.

“Ms. Doge?” Herc asked. She pat the stuffed dog in her arm on the head and grinned at Herc.

“Chaffeur?” She grabbed Chuck around the thigh.

“Appreciate it, Chuck,” Herc said. Chuck nodded - he knew they weren’t going to get into in front of Lucy. And it wasn’t like he disagreed with the arrangement, in principle. He was living with Stacker and Herc while he found a job after graduating, only fair he help out around the house. He just sort of objected to helping out around the house including taking Lucy to and from preschool at ass o’clock in the morning.

“Right then, Lucy, let’s go.”

“And Ms. Doge!” Lucy said. She gave him huge, wide eyes. Herc shook his head. Clearly not Internet literate, his old man. Did not understand the inherent brilliance in strangers, upon finding out the name of Lucy’s stuffed Shiba, going, _such soft much cuddles._ “Byeee daddy!”

“Bye, Lucy-boo,” said Herc. Chuck shook his head at him. He remembered the first time he heard Lucy call Herc daddy. He had laughed and Herc had just shrugged his shoulders - _what, you think Stacker was going to be daddy?_

 _Well, with that mustache,_ Chuck replied, and Herc threw an empty beer can at him.

He buckled her into the car seat. “Ms. Doge too!” she said, and pointed at Max’s dog carrier, still strapped into the back of his car. “Safety is important!”

“Sure,” Chuck said, and he tucked Ms. Doge into the carrier and zippered it shut. He pulled out of the driveway. “What?” he asked, when he realized Lucy was pouting.

“Daddy and I talk on our drive,” she said.

“What do you want to talk about?” he replied.

“Today we are going to learn about squares,” Lucy said. “And Paxton and I are gonna get our turn to pick the song that we sing at song time and Mr. Becket said we were also going to get to use paint today because we are mixing colors what is your favorite color, Chuck?” _Holy shit,_ Chuck thought, _if I were a preschool teacher I would have to keep myself from swallowing my own tongue to end it all._

“CHUCK!”

“What?”

“What is your favorite color?”

“Uh...green?” Chuck really had no clue.

Lucy considered this. “Mine is mint that is a type of green.” She grinned at him and continued to talk to him about potential song choices for that afternoon.

“Great,” said Chuck, once she finally stopped. He sighed and turned the corner. There was a pretty large collection of people dropping off their kids - all rich looking, too, fancy cars and nice clothes. Chuck sighed and glanced down at his worn henley.

“We’re here!” Lucy said. Chuck helped her and Ms. Doge out of the car.

“Oh, hello Lucy,” said an older woman in a suit, holding hands with two twins. “Who is this?”

“This is Chuck he’s my brother and my cousin,” Lucy said. The mother arched an eyebrow. “Hello Amory and Gavin.” The twins just looked at her and waved.

“How nice of you to bring Lucy and Ms. Doge to school today,” said the mother. She was giving him a - no, she was definitely checking him out. Chuck nodded and then trotted after Lucy as she ran up to a father with a kid.

“This is my friend Regan!” Lucy said. “This is my brother and cousin Chuck.”

“Hello,” Regan said, pulling a pigtail out of her mouth, and Chuck nodded at the father.

“C’mon,” Chuck said, as some of the parents milled around outside. “Let’s get you settled, yeah?” He wanted to get back into bed with Max before he had to write cover letters. “You must be, like, the only kid here with a normal name.”

There were plenty of things that had been bad about the condition Lucy had been in for the first year and half for her life, but the fact that Scott hadn’t given her an actual name was the cherry on top of everything. _What?_ Scott had asked Herc when he visited him in rehab. _You get two years, legally. Not like there are any other kids I can confuse her with._

Lucy had quickly rose to the top of name choices on their refrigerator list. Mako had some more esoteric suggestions, but Stacker had shook his head. _Trust me,_ he said.

 _Definitely trust me,_ Herc added. Chuck always thanked his father when he sent out a resume that just had Charles M. Hansen on it - mum had wanted to go with Brant or some shit.

“All those names makes it fun trying to figure out who the boys and girls are before the year starts,” said a man.

“MR. BECKET.” Lucy ran up to him and then stopped, almost falling into him, and smiled, holding Ms. Doge out in front of him. They must have had some kind of no touching rule. “Mr. Becket this is my brother and cousin Chuck.”

Mr. Becket smiled at Chuck.

Mr. Becket was hot. Really hot, and not what Chuck expected at all - mussed up blonde hair, strong hair, deep blue eyes, a sort of smirking smile. He had on an oversized knit sweater but it clung, at least, to his broad shoulders.

Chuck extended his hand. “Really nice to meet you, she talks about you all the time.” Mr. Becket said, and paused. “Well, Max.”

"You as well," Chuck said, and he glanced into the classroom. Such small chairs and tables.

“Max lives with me now, Mr. Becket,” Lucy said. “Ms. Doge is his girlfriend.”

“Such romance,” Mr. Becket said. “Much cute.”

 _Goddamnit,_ Chuck thought. “All right, Lucy,” he said. “Mako’s gonna pick you up this afternoon, OK?” He smiled down at her. Lucy nodded.

“Nice to meet you, Chuck,” said Mr. Becket.

* * *

“This painting is for you,” Lucy said, hopping into the house after an apparently stimulating day at preschool. She handed a piece of thick paper towards Chuck. It was all in shades of green and it appeared to be two dogs with lots of hearts around them.

“Oh, wow,” said Chuck. “That’s...that is great.”

Lucy looked up at him expectantly.

“I will get you some tape, Chuck,” Stacker said. “So you can hang it on your wall.”

“Yes,” Chuck said. “We can put it right next to my diploma.” Stacker gave him a feral grin - the type Chuck bet he used in Afghanistan or Iraq or wherever it was that he met Herc. Fuck, the two of them must have been legitimately terrifying together. They were still, probably - Chuck felt bad for any of their clients who didn't listen to directions and messed up on the ropes course or tipped over their kayak.

But at home they were completely domesticated. Lucy had sort of changed everything. _He has a sweater vest,_ Mako had hissed at Chuck one evening. _I saw it in sensei’s closet._

Chuck put Lucy up on his bed so she could watch while he taped the drawing up. Lucy sprawled out over his comforter and started rolling around. Max grunted and Lucy giggled, pulling the cover back to reveal Max blinking at her, woken from his peaceful slumber. “Max!” she said, and reached forward and poked his nose. Max grunted again and looked up at Chuck.

“I know, buddy,” Chuck said.

But what were they going to do? They got a phone call three years ago informing them that: a) Scott Hansen had reproduced, b) she had been found sitting in one of his worn Van Halen t-shirts amidst a pile of Cheerios while he was passed out on the couch and c) she had been removed from his custody and headed for foster care unless an alternate arrangement could be made.

 _Of course we'll take her,_ Stacker said.

 _We should adopt her,_ Herc replied. 

Mako and Stacker were a bit reluctant, at first, and it wasn’t like Chuck didn’t understand. On the other hand - y _ou want me to share some choice stories from my childhood?_ he asked. There had been, according to Herc, periods when Scott had said he was turning things around and so he had been allowed limited interaction time with Chuck. Though that had ended after the bicycle incident.

 _There are four of us, sometimes,_ Herc said.  _We should be able to handle one child._

Any reservations ended when Lucy turned up, ginger, freckled, pretty much one hundred per cent Hansen. All twelve of her words spoken in a soft Australian lilt. A few little hearts might have started floating around Stacker’s head, but Chuck would never tell anyone about that.

“Chuck are you gonna live with us now?” Lucy asked, pulling Max onto her stomach and giggling.

“Um,” Chuck said. “For a little bit. I have to find a job. Somewhere.”

“Boring,” said Lucy. “Unless you are a teacher like Mr. Becket cause then you would get to play and paint and sing all day. And we have nap time and snack time.”

“It’s tempting,” Chuck said, until he remembered all of the children milling around in the morning, the rug with the alphabet squares, and how much children in general made him anxious. What were they saying? What did they want from him?

“Mr. Becket doesn’t nap though he says he doesn’t need them,” Lucy said. “But you take naps.”

“I’m very busy and important,” Chuck said. Lucy considered this. “Max doesn’t like to nap alone.” She nodded her head.

“He can nap with Ms. Doge,” she said, finally. “OK. I’m gonna go and play with Mako.”

 _Thank god,_ Chuck thought. He needed a nap after just that.

* * *

“So you’re bringing Lucy in, from now on?” The twin's mother asked. Her eyes seemed to be focused on Chuck’s chest. He glanced down - his shirt was revealing a bit of his chest hair, but...uh. He hated being objectified. And who lusted after furry, freckled gingers anyway? Especially ones young enough to be their son.

“Well, uh, Herc and Stacker are pretty busy,” he said. “It’s summer, so, you know.” They had some corporate retreat or team bonding session almost every single day - pretty soon, Chuck feared, they were going to drag him into it if he didn’t get, at least, a part time job. And if there was anything he wanted to do less than wake up and take Lucy to preschool it was to have to escort a bunch of corporate drones through mandatory company bonding on one of Stacker and Herc’s rope courses or wilderness hikes.

“You call your dad Herc?” the mother asked.

“I call him daddy,” Lucy said.

“Right, so I got upgraded to Herc,” Chuck said. “Come on.”

“But I wanna talk to Gavin and-” _Yeah, well, I want to go and objectify Mr. Becket,_ Chuck thought.

“I know, but I gotta get home and make some phone calls, Lucy.” Lucy stared at him. “Lucy-boo?”

“OK.” Lucy trotted after him, dragging Ms. Doge behind her. “Morning Mr. Becket!”

“Hello, Lucy,” Mr. Becket said. Chuck was pretty sure that the sweater he had on this morning was the exact same as yesterday’s, and the day before - just a different color. It confused him. “How is Ms. Doge today?”

“Good we had oatmeal for breakfast,” Lucy said. “I’m gonna say hello to Jacinda!”

“She’s a really great kid,” Mr. Becket said.

“Ah,” Chuck replied. “Not really my, uh, can’t claim any part of that.” He reached behind his neck and scratched. He should not be this intimidated by a man who sang songs using a crocodile puppet named Sir Scales.

“Well, I just think it’s great, you know…” Mr. Becket shrugged his shoulders slightly and gave Chuck a sort of nervous smile, blinking his long lashes at him.

“Oh,” Chuck said. “Yeah, well. Would of got her sooner, if we had known Scott managed to reproduce. Really should of got him neutered, but they don’t allow that.”

“Yeeah,” Mr. Becket said. “Well, have a good day.”

Chuck frowned. He always did something like this.

* * *

“Here,” Mako said, and handed him a beer while he sat out on the back porch with his tablet.

“Thanks,” he said. “So.” Sometimes he was never quite sure what to say to Mako - mostly because he never knew what her motivations were. She might want to chat. She might want to tell him he needed to do something, either based on her own observations or as an emissary from Stacker. Chuck decided to strike first, just in case. “Get your grades yet?”

Mako was studying mechanical engineering at MIT. Mako was the perfect child.

Chuck felt a little bad because his question made her one eye twitch. “The grading deadline is in two days.”

“I’m sure you’ll do great.” This was sincere - Mako always did. Chuck glanced over at his tablet and the various jobs he had found. Maybe he should apply to medical school.

They sipped their beers, then Mako said, “You have stopped complaining about taking Lucy to school.” Chuck looked down and pet Max’s head. “You pick her up, as well. I was charged with picking her up.”

“Yeah, but you’ve got your internship to worry about,” Chuck said. Which was sincere. Sort of. “What if they want you to stay late?”

Mako gave him a sort of sly half smile. “It is too bad. I did not mind. Mr. Becket is very attractive.” _Goddamnit,_ Chuck thought, because Mako knew his type. It started when she had discovered pages missing from her lady magazines when they were teenagers, typically the profiles of current celebrities but occasionally a picture dominated by a male model.

“I guess,” Chuck said.

Mako sipped her beer. “You know that father and Herc would pay you to work this summer.”

 _There it is,_ Chuck thought. “I do,” he said. He had prepared an excuse. “Can’t exactly go to job interviews sunburnt and covered in bug bites, though.” Mako pressed her lips together, meaning she accepted the argument. “I applied at some places at the mall-” Mako laughed, deep and throaty. “What?”

“You? Work retail?”

“I don’t think it’s that difficult-”

“Customer service?” Mako asked, and shook her head. She reached over and pat Chuck’s hand.

“Fuck you,” Chuck said, but only half-heartedly.


	2. Chapter 2

Chuck was a little early - or preschool was running late. The kids were doing some sort of interpretive dance, swirling around Mr. Becket and laughing as he waddled with his legs stuck together.

Mr. Becket met Chuck’s eyes when he planted himself behind the half wall barrier to the main preschool room. “We’re penguins!” said a child. Chuck squinted.

“I can see that,” Chuck said, finally. There were colored penguins all over the wall, in a rainbow of colors, some with bowties and some with bows on their heads.

“You can be a penguin, too, Chuck!” said Lucy. You would, Chuck thought.

“I don’t know how?” Chuck winced as he said it. Lucy waddled over to him and took his hand.

“I will show you,” she said. Her smile was broad and her pigtails were messed up. Chuck noticed Ms. Doge was patiently sitting in small chair, watching the group. She was the exception to the preschool’s rule about bringing in stuffed animals from home. Chuck had got her for Lucy last year when she had started having nightmares.

_Look, Lucy-boo, you can have a dog sleep with you each night like Max,_ he said. _And she will bark and protect and protect you from everything scary, just like Max._

Lucy had pulled her to her chest. _What’s her name?_ she asked.

Chuck knew he was supposed to say something like, you can name her, but he couldn’t stop himself from saying it was Ms. Doge.

“Put your legs together and stick your feet out,” Lucy said.

“And put your hands on your side,” said another child. They both looked up at Mr. Becket.

“That’s right,” he said, and smiled at Chuck. It made his stomach ache.

“OK,” Chuck said, and he moved his waist back and forth a bit.

“Move your legs,” Lucy said, and then she reached out her hands for him. Chuck grabbed them and waddled a bit, nearly stumbling trying to hold onto Lucy.

“Not bad for a first time penguin,” said Mr. Becket, after a minute. “But it’s time to say goodbye now.” Some of the kids groaned. Chuck turned and noticed that some of the other parents had arrived, including the one who had that whole Mrs. Robinson thing with him. Chuck’s willingness to wobble like a penguin seemed to have really impressed her.

“Everyone please go and get your bags,” Mr. Becket said. The kids scrambled off, some bumping into each other. Mr. Becket smiled at him.

_Don’t say something stupid,_ Chuck thought to himself. _Just please don't say something stupid._ Like it was an involuntary response. “So,” Mr. Becket said. He put his hands in his pockets. “Carter - no running,” he said. A small boy stopped. “Lucy says you’re her driver for the summer.”

“Just graduated,” Chuck said. “Looking for jobs.”

“Yeah, that’s never fun,” Mr. Becket said. “I ended up going back and getting my Master’s after two years - but you probably don’t want to hear that.”

“Yeah,” Chuck said, and he found himself involuntarily scratching his neck. Lucy tugged at his pants.

“We’re ready, Chuck!” she said.

“Good,” Chuck replied. “We’ve got to stop at the store first, though, get a few things for Sta-dad and daddy.”

“K,” said Lucy. “Bye, Mr. Becket! Have a good weekend.”

“You too,” Mr. Becket said.

When they were outside, walking to the car, Lucy said, “Mr. Becket likes you.”

“No he doesn’t,” Chuck said, quickly - he hated trying to figure these things out. Sure, Mr. Becket was a preschool teacher, but he didn’t act or seem particularly...interested in Chuck, or interested in men.

“Yes he does,” Lucy said. “You could be friends.”

* * *

“Hey, Tendo,” Chuck said, returning back from grocery shopping where he had learned that Ms. Doge had very specific feelings about various types of cereal and juice.

Tendo grinned at him as he set the bags down and immediately started helping Chuck in putting the items away. “Look at this, all organic,” Tendo said, and shook his head. “I remember when these two used to live off those MREs Stacker bought in bulk.”

“Dark times,” Chuck said.

Tendo handed Chuck a beer. “Not organic.”

“Totally fine,” Chuck said. He glanced out the window - Stacker and Herc were outside on the porch with Mako and Allison. He watched as Lucy bounced into Allison’s lap, excitedly telling her about their exciting trip. _Just swing by and pick up some things bringing Lucy back, oi?_ Herc said. He had probably laughed with Stacker when they realized it took Chuck a whole hour. “What’d you do today?”

“Oh, had a group of day campers - and Herc had to show the hiking trail and ropes course to some personal assistant, looking to book us for a last minute corporate retreat. Showed up in a full goddamn outfit, like he was going to head on fucking safari that day.” Tendo shook his head. “Then it turns out he’s, like, Lucy’s preschool teacher’s brother, which is how he heard about us.”

Chuck perked up at this. “Oh?”

“Yeah, well...good business, you know, it’s a small company but apparently worth millions, so…” Tendo shrugged his shoulder. “Lot of work, you know-”

“Aw, shit,” Chuck said. He should have seen this coming. “I am trying to find, you know, employment that doesn’t involve zip lines and making sure accountants don’t fall overboard on the white water trek.”

“Nothing wrong with zip lines,” Tendo said. “Look, dude, I get it - but it’s summer, and I could really use the help. Besides, it’s not like you’ve got anything on.”

“I have to drop Lucy off and pick her up from preschool,” Chuck said, and then realized he had offered this up too quickly.

“Oh, really?” Tendo asked. He leaned in. “You, if Mr. Becket looks as good as his brother, then I can see why this might so important - look, tell you what, you just do the front desk shit and the tours, yeah? That way I can help Herc and Stacker with the actual wilderness adventures.” Chuck sighed and glanced out the window and met Stacker’s gaze. Man was a master - no wonder he had been in special forces. He resisted the urge to flick him the middle finger since Lucy was bopping around. He knew Chuck couldn't say no to Tendo. No one really could. It was something about his fucking off-duty bow tie.

“Yeah, OK,” he said. “But if I have to interview-”

“Sure, sure,” Tendo said. “After all, I imagine plant sciences majors are pretty heavy in demand.”

“It’s a hard sciences degree,” Chuck replied. Tendo waved his hand at him.

“Whatever, Chuck, we all know you majored in lacrosse anyway.” Chuck sighed, even though he got this a lot - it was apparently just a little too much for people to believe that someone might be as equally dedicated to athletics as they were to their academics. Tendo clapped him on the back and then flashed a thumbs up out the window. “C’mon, let’s get some burgers.”

* * *

“Oh, Chuck?” Chuck turned as Mr. Becket called after him - and it would figure, it would be on a day when he had been drenched in sweat and river water and who knows what else. He should have known Tendo would waver on his promise, an easy, _c_ _’mon, Chuck, not like you’ve got any interviews lined up and besides, it’s an easy one, bunch of teenagers, Young Life group or something…_ Angry balls of hormones was more like it. Chuck had been really tempted to accidentally shove a few of them overboard with a quick shoulder check.

Mr. Becket turned his head slightly when he caught sight - or smell - of Chuck. “Chuck is helping dad and daddy at their ‘venture company,” Lucy said.

“Oh, well,” Mr. Becket said - and Chuck decided he really needed to at least get the guy's first name because it was starting to be like a bad porn, “We’re going to be doing a big arts and crafts day on Wednesday and I like to ask for a few volunteers-”

“Sure,” Chuck said. Tendo could suck it.

“Oh, great,” Mr. Becket said. “Just be ready to get dirty - but you don’t have a problem with that…” His eyes trailed up and down Chuck’s body, the sweat stains in his armpits and the mud on his cargo pants. He quirked half a smile at him.

“Naw, what’s a little paint?” Chuck asked. “You ready Lucy?” He needed to get out of there before he went completely beet red. There had been something appraising in that look and more than just trying to determine where, exactly, Chuck had drug himself out of to pick up Lucy.

“Sure,” she said. As he strapped her into her carseat, she wrinkled her nose. “You smell, Chuck.”

“Yeah, I know,” he said.

“Did you have fun with dad and daddy?”

“Loads,” said Chuck.

* * *

“You’ve been a real help this summer,” Herc said, and Chuck startled. He hadn’t realized his father was behind him - goddamn Special Forces training. Herc trotted over to him, a variety of ropes harnesses and other equipment dangling off of him.

“You sound surprised,” Chuck replied. He glanced around for Stacker.

“Chuck,” said Herc. “Just. You’re warming up to Lucy.”

Chuck tried to figure out how to respond to this - he had probably loved Lucy from the moment he had set eyes on her, even as she cried while Herc held her and whispered into her ear as he slowly rocked her. He just never knew what to do with her. “I’ve always - kids are just hard.”

“Well,” Herc said, and he gave him a slight smile - Chuck prayed this wasn’t going to segue into a discussion about how Herc was sorry about all his deployments and what a kind of rubbish dad he had been sometimes even when he was home, especially right after mum died. Chuck had mostly forgiven him. He understood better now. “I know,” he said. “Though I always like the little ones. It’s when they get older…”

_I’ll take it,_ Chuck said. “Oi, forgot to mention - I told Lucy I’d help out tomorrow for some arts and craftstravaganza they’re having.”

Herc cocked his head at Chuck. “Well,” he said. “That will give you some good time to get to know each other.”

Herc didn’t suspect, did he? He couldn’t - Herc tried to stay out of things after their Big Discussion. And that was all Mako, too, pretending like she had slipped. It was totally premeditated. Mako thought he needed to tell Herc, that they shouldn’t hide things from each other. _You have your dad and your relationship and I have mine, yeah?_ Chuck had said - but, hell, Mako knew best. She’d apologized, eventually.

_Don’t mind, you know,_ Herc said. _Doesn’t change anything._

_I guess,_ Chuck replied.

_Boys on the team know?_ Herc asked.

Chuck sighed. _Some,_ he replied, and it was probably an open secret. Good thing he was their leading scorer - and that was a pretty good motivation to keep putting the ball in the net, as well.

Now, though, he thought - didn’t matter at all. It was sort of strange. He could have all the sex. Get dicked six ways from Sunday.

“I like her, really,” Chuck said. “Max, though…”

“Oh, he’s all over her when you’re not around,” Herc replied. “Don’t let him fool you.” Of course he was - Max knew, maybe better than all of them. “I think a lot of the time she wanted to sleep in bed with us she really wanted to curl up with Max.”

“Eh,” Chuck said. “He farts real awful at night.”

“I know,” Herc replied, and nodded. “I know. Oh - just make sure you don’t make any plans for Saturday, we’ve got that corporate group coming in so everything needs to be top of the line. And you know how they can get with ropes courses.” Herc shook his head - the only people Herc was really prejudiced against were the ones who decided to work desk jobs.

“Sure,” Chuck said, and he had to know, “the one Tendo gave the tour to the kitted out PA for?”

“Oi, that guy,” Herc said. “He’ll get his knickers in a twist, for sure, he gets a speck of dirt on that outfit.” He shook his head.

Right then, Chuck thought. He was going to have to make a plan of attack, figure out how to wheedle some information about Mr. Becket from his brother. Something better than, so, your brother teaches my sister in preschool - does he like cock, or what?

He could start, he figured, with Mr. Becket’s first name.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> plot assistance thanks to the ever excellent [dytabyes](http://dytabytes.tumblr.com/).

“OK, everyone,” said Mr. Becket to twenty wide eyes staring at up at him from the ABC rug, “today is Arts and Crafts day and we are very lucky to have three helpers here with us.” Chuck was doing his best not to laugh at the fact that Mr. Becket was wearing a beret and a smock with paint splatters all over it. Guy had a Master’s Degree in something, after all. “This is Ms. Robles, who is Jacinda’s mother, and this is Ms. Dahlgren, who is Bella’s mother, and this is Mr. Hansen, who is Lucy’s brother.” 

Chuck glanced over at Ms. Dahlgren. She didn’t look like the sort of woman who would be a Twihard, but you never knew where a black and white portrait tattoo of Edward Cullen might lurk. 

“Aren’t you too old to be Lucy’s brother?” asked a child. Chuck narrowed his eyes at him.

“He is my cousin too, Finnick,” said Lucy. Excellent, Chuck thought, Finnick. These kids weren’t stupid. They were going to realize at some point you named them after a character in a YA book you jacked off to. Or got it on with the guy you jacked off to.

Mr. Becket met his gaze at this and pressed his lips together, sort of smirking. Apparently he could read minds. Chuck sort of smirked back. “Remember how we talked about families, Finnick?” Mr. Becket asked. “And we learned that everyone has a different family and there is no one way to have a family?” His tone altered just slightly, but it was clear from the way the kid’s facial expression completely changed and melted that he understood Mr. Becket was mad at him. 

“OK,” he said. “We have three different stations set up for this morning and everyone will get to make something at each one. I want everyone to gather together with your color group-” the kids all stood and moved into three groups, completely orderly, and this was not how Chuck remembered preschool at all. “Very good. Now, Ms. Robles is going to be doing French knitting and is starting with the green group. So go up to Ms. Robles and walk over to your table. And Ms. Dahlgren is doing potato stamps and working with the orange group. Very good, orange group. And Mr. Hansen is going to be doing collage and painting and he is working with the purple group.” The purple group, including the little shithead Finnick, walked over to him. Chuck grinned at the kid. 

He was relieved to have collage, where all he had to worry about were safety scissors, construction paper, magazine pages, and paint. “All right,” he said, as the six children in the purple group sat down with him. He knocked his knees on the table. “Sh-so, when you make a collage, you combine cut out pieces to make a picture. Like this.” He showed them an example last year of a forest. The kids all blinked at him.

That was all Mr. Becket had told him to say - he looked around, but the teacher was helping with the initial potato cutting stage. “So, um, what do you all want to make?”

“What do you want to make?” asked a kid - one of the twins, Chuck was pretty sure.

“Uh.” The kids looked expectant, and like they might go feral at any second. “My dog,” he said. “Max. He’s a bulldog. Ever seen one?” 

“Ms. Doge isn’t one,” said Finnick. “Why do you talk funny?”

“Because I’m from Australia, and I don’t talk funny, I talk like someone from Australia,” Chuck said, really resisting the urge to add _you little fuck._ A lightbulb also probably appeared above his head at that moment. “Do you know anything about Australia?”

“They have kangaroos,” said a girl.

“And koalas,” said a boy.

“OK, so, why don’t you pick one of those to make,” Chuck said. “Um, we can all start by cutting out a letter K?” The kids nodded at him. 

Chuck exhaled for the first time in minutes.

He actually found the whole thing kind of soothing, though his knees and back hurt from getting up and down and trying to hunch over the small table as he helped the kids cut noses for the koalas or figure out how to make pouches for the kangaroos. He rubbed at his lower back as he helped Finnick cut out some boxing gloves for his kangaroo. 

“You don’t get used to it,” Mr. Becket said, from behind him. “Yoga helps.”

 _Jesus fucking Christ,_ Chuck thought.

He had his spiel perfected by the time he got the second group of kids, who included Lucy, and they added in crocodiles and snakes as animals from Australia that they would make collages of. Mr. Becket just nodded his head at him and Chuck took this as a sign that he was doing well and had things under control. _Should have fucked up,_ he thought. _Then, at least, he’d be over here instead of having to supervise spool knitting or whatever the fuck they’re doing._

Lucy beamed at him when they were done - like she, too, couldn’t imagine that he hadn’t called a kid a bad name or tossed one of them over his shoulder or something. 

He should have known that his luck wouldn’t last. 

Midway through his last group before lunch time and nap time, a girl tugged at his shirt. “Um, Mr. Hansen?”

“Yeah?” he said. The girl was looking at him like he was supposed to know exactly what her problem was and how to solve it.

“I don’t feel well.” 

“OK,” Chuck said. “Do you need to go to the - oh, fuck me!” The kid threw up right on his shirt, a sharp little projectile vomit that splattered right across his chest. It was like the Exorcist, but bright purple, and Chuck had to wonder what the hell her parents were feeding her.

“Darcy ate the paint,” a little girl said, helpfully.

“You said a bad word, Mr. Hansen,” a boy said at the same time.

“Mr. Becket!” called another girl. 

Chuck didn’t want to stand for fear of the vomit dripping down further. He just sat, frozen, as an efficient and effective response mobilized around him. One of the mothers took the girl off to the little girls room to help her clean up. Mr. Becket clapped a hand on his shoulder. “I’ve got a shirt on under my sweater, yeah?” he said.

“Great,” Chuck said. “That would be great.” 

He followed Mr. Becket back behind his desk where an actual adult bathroom existed. Mr. Becket handed him a wad of paper towels and then peeled his smock and sweater off. Chuck wanted to ask him about the sweaters - they were lightweight, sure, and the preschool was air conditioned, but didn’t he get hot? 

Chuck’s focus shifted when he took off his own shirt and was greeted by the sight of a topless Mr. Becket. He was clearly doing more than just fucking yoga. Chuck thought of a lot of trite euphemisms for abdominal muscles - grate cheese, do laundry, cut your face. _Fuck, fuck, fuck,_ he thought.

Then he realized that Mr. Becket was looking at him and he was - he was appreciative, as well. Chuck was still in pretty good shape from their run at nationals, but he hadn’t exactly been exercising in the past few weeks. But Mr. Becket was definitely - either he was trying to figure out what type of crunches Chuck did or he was checking him out. 

Then Mr. Becket immediately glanced away and handed Chuck his t-shirt. Chuck felt himself go red and desperately pleaded with his blood not to flow to his face. He could feel his cheeks burning, though. Mr. Becket looked down at his shoes.

“You can just put that shirt in the trash,” he said.

“Uh, yeah,” Chuck said, relieved that none of the vomit had soaked through to his chest. “Uh, thanks, Mr. Becket.”

“Oh, ha,” he replied, and looked at Chuck and smiled. “It’s Raleigh.” His eyes moved down to Chuck’s chest and then back up again and he pressed his lips together. 

“I’ll put this shirt on now,” Chuck said. 

“Yeah,” Mr. Becket said. “OK.” 

Chuck put the shirt on and Mr. Becket put his sweater on. Both of them looked at each other and then Mr. Becket raised his eyebrows and bit his lip slightly. “Have to get back to the kids. Call Darcy’s mom.”

“Yeah,” Chuck said. “Finish up our koalas.”

Somehow he managed to comport himself when they opened the door to the bathroom, even though Ms. Robles and all the kids looked at them like - well, like one of them had just blown the other in the bathroom. 

“All right,” said Mr. Becket - Raleigh, and fuck, who was he to judge these kids on their names? “I’m going to go and help Darcy, but everyone else is going to get back with their crafts and finish them up. Then we’ll have lunch.” 

Chuck sat next to Lucy at lunch and talked with some of the kids about what Australia was like. “Why did you leave?” a girl asked.

“We moved when I was thirteen,” Chuck said. “My dad got a job in America.” More like his dad got a job offer from some former member of his Coalition of the Willing, started fucking him in their office, and then finally decided to tell Chuck _oh, by the way, Stacker and I are dating._ Then the next thing Chuck knew they were buying a house together. Bit complex for a preschooler, though.

He looked over at Mr. Becket several times, but he was apparently the person to sit next to at lunch time. The kids were almost literally hanging off of him, looking at him with complete awe. And they hadn’t even seen his abs. 

Towards the end of lunch he met his eye, and Mr. Becket gave him a shy smile before quickly glancing away. _Fuck,_ Chuck thought, _are we flirting?_ He wished he knew. Maybe he should have come out in college like Mako told him to, gone to a bar night, learned how to pick up men. Now he was...going to have to ask Herc, or something, but it wasn’t like he would know either. War zones didn't exactly equate.

Mr. Becket got the volunteers together at the end of lunch. “Really appreciate it,” he said. “Especially you, Chuck.”

“Handled that well,” said Ms. Dahlgren, though Chuck detected some sarcasm there. So he had swore. What would she have done if her designer dress got paint puke on it?

“You really, really did,” said Mr. Becket, and it was sincere. “Aside from a little, uh, projectile vomit, it really went well, though. You all did a great job and the kids had a good time.” He smiled at them. The mums nodded and waited, and Mr. Becket met Chuck’s eyes and his smile broadened, slightly. “See you this afternoon, then?”

“Yeah,” Chuck said. The mums nodded. 

They immediately separated from him once they got out into the parking lot, though they glanced back at him with some sort of knowing mum look that made Chuck want to give them the finger. 

He went home and washed and dried Mr. Becket’s shirt, then changed into one of his own when he went to pick up Lucy. “Here,” he said, and handed the t-shirt to Mr. Becket in a Target bag. “Appreciate the, uh, assist there.” 

Mr. Becket looked at his own shirt, and, really, Chuck hadn’t intended to pop on one of his Cornell Lacrosse ones. Although there was a one out of two chance when he grabbed in his drawer randomly given the amount of lacrosse t-shirts he had. “Not a problem,” said Mr. Becket. “You, uh, play?” 

“Yeah,” Chuck said. He scratched at the back of his neck. 

“Pretty intense,” Mr. Becket said. 

“Chuck was MVP,” Lucy offered. Chuck looked down at her and felt himself blush again, and, really, that was unnecessary.

“Oh, wow,” said Mr. Becket. “That’s, uh, well. Hey. Something.” 

“Ms. Doge wants to go see Max, Chuck,” said Lucy, tugging on his shorts. 

“OK,” Chuck said. “Bye - thanks again. I had fun, really.”

“Great,” said Mr. Becket.

Lucy, at least, waited until they got to the parking lot to offer another perceptive observation. “You’re really red, Chuck,” she said. “Whenever you talk to Mr. Becket you get really red.” 

“Can’t blame you,” said a passing mum, and Chuck wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

The next two days of drop offs and pick ups were palpably awkward, and Chuck couldn’t help but wonder if he had completely misread the situation. Maybe Mr. Becket had just noticed that Chuck was checking him out and had been embarrassed by it. Or maybe he was just straight and doing his best to embrace the preschools’ diversity and inclusivity policies.

Hell, the guy had to be used to getting flirted with. Having people check him out. 

“Are you mad at Mr. Becket?” Lucy asked Friday night as she sat on the couch with Max flopped over her lap as Chuck rubbed his ears. 

“No, I - why would you ask that?” Chuck asked. He acutely aware of Stacker watching him. 

“You used to talk,” she said. “Until Darcy threw up on you.”

“What?” Herc asked, fiddling with the DVD player - Friday’s were family movie night and Chuck, having nothing better to do, found himself settling in on the couch with a beer and some popcorn about to watch _Finding Nemo._

Not for the first time, he thought about how he should have kept in better touch with his friends and teammates from high school. But it had been hard, everyone going away for school. He had fiddled with his phone instead, texting old teammates who had graduated with him. He was only soothed a bit by the fact that Mako was in the overstuffed chair in the corner with her iPad. 

“A kid ate some paint at Arts & Crafts day and puked on me,” said Chuck. 

“Ooh,” said Herc, and finally had the DVD player connected to the television.

“Ate the paint?” Mako asked, and shook her head. 

“Mr. Becket let Chuck wear his shirt,” Lucy said. Chuck thought he had escaped scrutiny for a moment, but it appeared not.

Herc just nodded his head - but Stacker, the shit, seemed to know exactly what was going on. “How kind of him,” said Stacker. 

“Good to know that lumpy sweater isn’t stuck on him,” Herc said, and clicked the movie on.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> prompted by a lovely anon [over at my tumblr](http://snack-size.tumblr.com/post/72035350861/i-kind-of-hope-arts-and-crafts-has-a-special) \- thank you for the idea, nonnie!

“I met one of the hot dads today,” Yancy said, pulling two beers out of the fridge and handing one to Raleigh. “The Aussie one - definitely agree with your assessment-”

“Fuck, you should see his son,” said Raleigh. “Perfect face, gorgeous eyes, broad fucking shoulders, then he turns and his ass is just-” He made a cupping motion with his hands that made Yancy groan.

“You should not be perving on preschoolers, dude,” Yancy said. “You’re going to have to change occupation-”

“He’s, like, twenty-two,” Raleigh said. “Just graduated college. The hot dads have him taking Lucy to school. He’s really cute with her, too, and kind of awkward but he gets this smile with these dimples-”

“Fuck, just ask the kid out,” Yancy said, and rolled his eyes.

“I don’t think he’s, uh...you know,” Raleigh said.

“Not going to find out unless you ask,” Yancy said.

“I guess - he’s just so, you know, so pretty, but still…” Raleigh sighed again.

“You’re too old to have crushes,” Yancy said.

* * *

“That is a fucking piss poor back check,” Raleigh said, later that evening. The triplets were over and they were watching Game Three of the Conference Finals. Raleigh shook his head at the television.

“How?” Jin demanded. “Tell me how this is different from a forecheck!”

“OK, look,” Yancy began, and started to use their beer bottle caps to demonstrate.

“Fucking Pens,” said Hu.

“Chuck was a penguin with us in preschool,” Raleigh said, and Yancy watched as he sat up straighter and perked up. "He waddled and it was so cute-"

“Chuck?” asked Cheung.

“No, no, don’t encourage him - don’t ask-” Yancy said.

“I will ask,” said Jin. "Who is Chuck?"

“He’s...kind of adorable, but hot, still, and has this Australian accent and this great round ass-”

“Look what you have done,” said Hu. He threw a pillow at his brother.

* * *

“Aw, dude, c’mon,” said Yancy, and he kicked his younger brother in the head.

“You know,” said Raleigh, “I spend all damn day singing with puppets and moderating red light, green light grudge matches I am going to scratch my balls if I want to while I play Mario Kart.”

Yancy shook his head and returned his attention to the screen. “Did you just shell me, you little bastard?” Yancy shook his head. “Fuck off.”

“Yeah, I did. It was a stupid day.” Yancy waited. Raleigh didn’t usually require a whole lot of narrative prompting. “We had the volunteers in for arts and crafts-” _Oh, fuck me,_ Yancy thought, _here we go,_ “-and it was going really well until one of the little girls puked on Chuck.”

“Poor Chuck,” Yancy said. “Oh, yes, take that.” Raleigh didn’t even care about how Yancy had just cut him off.

“And then...I gave him my shirt, and so we’re in the bathroom, trading shirts-”

“That sounds like the start to one of your pornos, Ray,” Yancy said. Raleigh elbowed him in the knee. “Ow!”

“I do not have - anyway, he has, like, three biceps-”

“You remember your Greek prefixes, right?” Yancy asked.

“His bicep has a muscle on it,” Raleigh said. “And all of these freckles everwhere and especially on his shoulder and, like, perfect ginger chest hair and it goes-”

“No, nope, shut the fuck up,” Yancy said.

“-and then there’s this trail and these perfect sculpted deltoids and - the fuck was that for, man? Uncalled for-”

“I don’t want to know about his goddamn happy trail,” said Yancy.

* * *

“I think I fucked up,” Raleigh said. He had his forlorn puppy face on.

“Did you finally snap, tell the kinds that the Tooth Fairy isn’t real?” Yancy asked.

“No, shut up! About something real,” Raleigh said. “I think I might have - when I was looking at Chuck-”

“When he was shirtless, or just generally?” Yancy asked.

“I don’t look at him - wait, how do you know..?”

“Chuck has this beautiful dimples, Yancy, when he smiles, they’re like his smile is just meant for you, you know? He has this sexy accent, Yancy, it’s not faaair...and his eyes are like, this green-hazel color and he-”

“I don’t...look, anyway,” Raleigh said, pouring himself some whiskey and ginger ale, “he hasn’t been, like, friendly, since the whole shirt thing happened and I think he’s...maybe I was wrong, thinking he was interested?”

“Oh,” Yancy said. He looked at Raleigh, who burped from drinking too fast. “Maybe he was embarrassed.”

“Don’t think so,” Raleigh said, “I mean, it turns out he played lacrosse-”

“For Cornell, you told me,” Yancy replied. Raleigh furrowed his brow - he had clearly forgot about this. That was just great. Whoever this Chuck was, he’d impaired Raleigh’s higher brain functions.

“He used to smile at me with these dimples-”

“I know all about the dimples, Raleigh, Christ, can you please just ask this guy out so you can stop fucking talking about him all the time because you want to get his dick in you?” Raleigh looked offended by this. “Don’t even, I hear what comes out of your mouth when you’re-”

“I thought you got those Bose noise cancelling headphones,” Raleigh said, “from that one gift bag Sasha gave you because she already had all the stuff?”

“I asked her for them,” Yancy replied. “Begged her for them, so I didn’t have to hear you moan about his smirk when he goes down on you-"

“He looks really hot when he smirks,” Raleigh said. “He has this, like...he looks like a real douchebag but then…”

Yancy sighed. “C’mon, kid, let’s go out and get something to eat.”

Raleigh pouted, but then nodded. It wasn’t going to completely distract him, but a decent burger might help. Maybe some pool.

And it would give Yancy time to make a plan of attack for tomorrow when he got to meet the infamous Chuck Hansen. It was problematic, because it was on Chuck’s turf - or, at least, he was presumably more comfortable on the hot dad’s wilderness adventure course than Yancy was. The kid didn’t sound too difficult to decipher, though, and Yancy was pretty comfortable he’d manage to sort this shit out. That was what older brothers did, right?

Goddamn Raleigh and his goddamn huge sad eyes.


	5. Chapter 5

It was easy to identify Yancy Becket - he was like the forties movie star version of Raleigh, complete with pressed army green shirt, pressed cargo pants, lightweight jacket, and brand new sneakers. Tendo had slightly exaggerated about the safari outfit thing, but he did look immaculate. 

“Oi, pay attention, now,” Herc said, and looked like he had decided this particular group warranted going full Steve Irwin on. “M’gonna show you a safety video about the ropes course - we’re not doing that until the afternoon, but it’s on the other end of the hike, so we’re gonna watch now.”

The full Aussie was probably warranted, it got people to pay attention to the safety instructions and saved them from having to climb around like monkeys and rescue people. The CEO, Sasha Kaidanovsky, was dressed appropriately but also had on brilliant red lipstick and the blondest hair Chuck had ever seen. Her husband and CFO was a hulk, though - his feet might actually touch the ground on some elements. But then there was the Becket Doll, four employees who looked like this was the last place they wanted to be on a Saturday, and two petrified interns.

Herc clicked on the DVD while Stacker stood next to the television. The first five minutes showed how to properly put on a harness for the high ropes elements and how to clip yourself in when you needed to. “A facilitator will be with you at all times, so never hesitate to ask questions,” Allison’s voice said. “And don’t be intimidated - even Max can do it!” The screen then cut to Max, in a dog harness that Herc had made specially for him, getting clipped into the first short zip line that traversed a creek.

Chuck had been adamantly opposed to the whole thing - but now he had to admit, it was effective. Especially the close shots of Max and his stupid, slobbering face as he slowly careened across the creek. From the way his tail was wagging you would think it was the best thing that ever happened to him. Chuck could just see his thoughts - AM WILD ANIMAL. FLYING!

“That is something,” said Sasha. “That is your dog?”

“Chuck’s dog,” said Stacker “Nice enough to volunteer him. Alright - everyone get your packs, and we’ll head out.”

Chuck watched as everyone gathered their company issued backpacks, containing lunch, water, granola, small first aid kits, a map, and compasses. Not that any of them would be able to figure out how to use the last two. Probably included as a liability thing.

He met Yancy’s eyes - the guy was definitely appraising him. He gave Chuck a broad, toothy grin.

“Oi, Chuck, Tendo, you bring up the rear?” Herc asked.

“Now, remember,” Yancy said to the other employees as they walked out of the welcome building and towards one of the more rigorous trails, “we’re going to bond. This is going to be fun.” The interns eyed him with fear while the other four, all women, sort of rolled their eyes but then stopped when they felt Aleksis’ eyes on them.

Right, Chuck thought. This is going to blow hard. He began to walk, the pace slower than he would have liked, making sure no one slipped or fell behind on the hike.

“So you’re Chuck Hansen,” said Yancy, about five minutes into the hike. He slipped in right next to Chuck as they turned a curve and were faced with a fairly steep incline. “Raleigh’s mentioned you.” Chuck sputtered, slightly, then tried to compose himself.

“He tell you about all the parents?” Chuck asked. He hoped that he didn’t look - no, fuck, he probably looked so awkward right now. He tried to look to Tendo for help, but he was helping an intern fix the stomach strap on her pack.

“No,” Yancy replied. “Well, yours got a mention when I complained about us not having somewhere to take the interns for this part of their summer work session.” One of the interns huffed and slipped a little bit on a rock, Chuck held out a hand to steady her.

“Got to watch where you put your footing,” he said to her. What did he mean, Raleigh mentioned him? He looked over at Yancy again and it slapped him like a board to the face - probably the puking incident and everything that went with it. And Yancy did not seem to be impressed by him, or anything, really, so that probably meant-

“Yeah, OK,” the intern said. Her eyes seemed to be asking Chuck to help her. He shook his head. He just took people on the trips, made sure that they didn’t break any bones.

“So you home for the summer, or..?” Yancy asked, after another five minutes when they had come to a flat point on the hike.

“Well, I’m looking for jobs,” Chuck said. “Just graduated.”

“From Cornell,” Tendo said.

“Jeez, man, you are not one of my dads, you don’t need to advertise it,” Chuck said. He knew he should probably brag about it - but then, given Mako’s achievement, it didn’t really seem that noteworthy. After all, they’d recruited him for lacrosse, not his brain.

“Played lax,” said Tendo. Chuck shook his head at him and Tendo shrugged.

“You guys had a good run at nationals this year,” Yancy said. “Too bad Duke had that defense, though.”

Chuck shook his head. He didn’t want to think about it. Two more goals, and-

“Oops, sorry, touchy subject?” Yancy asked. Chuck looked over him. The guy hadn’t even broken a sweat. He still looked pristine. Yancy smiled at him.

Maybe he was a robot, Chuck thought.

“Yancy! Come here for a moment!” Sasha called, and Yancy immediately erased his smug expression and put on a pleasant smile as he trotted up to where Sasha was talking with Stacker.

Tendo raised both his eyebrows at Chuck. “Don’t even,” Chuck said.

An hour and a half in, they stopped at a lean to for snacks, rehydration, and a covered space for people to relieve themselves. “Aw, really, I have to go in the woods?” one of the employees asked. Sasha made a slightly growling sound at her. “Right, right, fine.”

She was pretty tough for someone who owned a boutique make-up company, Chuck thought. There had to be a pretty good story there. Chuck angled to sit down next to her for their twenty minute break. “I really like the color of your lipstick,” he said, hoping that it wasn’t too stupid of a thing to say - besides, part of his job was flattering the paying customers.

Too late, he noticed that Yancy was seated right next to Sasha.

“Yes,” she said. “I made it myself. It all began…” she waved a hand, and Chuck knew from the expressions of the other employees that the origin story was pretty much copyright, “with search for perfect lipstick. Perfect red - all of these lipsticks, they are Poppy, Firecracker, or True Romance.” She shook her head. “I want Blood of My Enemies. Finally I mix myself, find someone who makes indie makeup - the shade, so beautiful. But now what do we do? Only one lipstick. Then I think, what do people like more than anything? Get samples. Get shit in mail. So we buy samples, make agreements, put together little boxes. Lipstick is selling point to get them roped in.”

“Sasha was one of the first people to capitalize on the box a month delivery trend,” Yancy supplied. His teeth were very white - like he ate people with them. 

“Now we ship thousands, have subscriptions, mentioned in Vogue and all the others. Get more products - mix color, find producer, market. Going to Cut a Bitch Mascara-”

“I came up with that one,” Yancy said.

“Yes, is so smart.” Sasha pat his head. “Kaiju Blue eye shadow. But I am tired of searching for people who can make things. I want to make them - but makeup, so much chemistry. And our little biochemist…Oh, Newton.” She shook her head. “Need someone to translate and explain. Speak English about all the things he wants to put in the BB Cream.”

“Yeah,” Chuck said. “I remember taking some of my biochemistry courses - none of those guys wanted to be understood, I don’t think.”

"Where did you go to school?" Sasha asked.

"Cornell," Chuck said.

“Major?” Sasha asked.

“Plant sciences,” Chuck said. “My minor was, ah, biochem.” He gave her his very best smile.

“You are smart as well as rugged,” Sasha said. “This is good trait in man. Like Aleksis.” She nodded over at the mountain that was talking to Herc. “Oh, Yancy. Works so hard.” Yancy had wandered off without either of them noticing, typing frantically on his Blackberry. “Best assistant. Will pry him from my cold dead fingers.”

“Pry it from my Cold, Dead Fingers is a good name,” Chuck said. “Unless you already-”

“No,” said Sasha. “But it is.” Chuck heard Stacker make a coughing sound behind him.

“Looks like we need to head out for the second leg,” Chuck said. “Bit more of a degree of difficulty.”

“Why?” asked one of the interns.

“Bonding,” said the one other employee who seemed to appreciate the exercise - or was junior enough she had to appear to appreciate the exercise.

They were about halfway through the gradiated section before Tendo said, “You know, I think we lost the pretty one.”

“What?” Chuck asked. He grabbed his walkie and relayed ahead to his father. “You want one of us to go back and find him? Last saw him with his fucking blackberry in the forest.”

“Yeah, probably,” said Herc. “Send Tendo - he knows the lay of the land better.”

“Goddamnit,” Tendo said, and Chuck stuck his tongue out at him.

“He will be fine,” Sasha said, loud enough for Chuck to hear. “So capable.” Chuck wondered exactly what it was that Yancy Becket did to make Sasha think this - what did personal assistants do, anyway?

She laughed twenty minutes later when they rounded the corner to their lunch spot, right near the beginning of the ropes course. Yancy was seated at a picnic table, reading a book he must have brought along, still without any apparent sweat on his person. “Huh,” said Herc.

“Fuck,” said Chuck.

Stacker cocked his head, clearly confused.

“Just followed the map, sort of, but then I saw there was a shortcut if you were willing to take the steeper gradiant down,” he said, and shrugged his shoulders. “I waited for you guys to eat.” He gave all of them a briliant smile.

“This is why I keep him,” Sasha said. She winked at Chuck. He felt vaguely unsettled.

Chuck saw Stacker’s look change - a sort of smile appeared on his face, and his eyes were wide. It was, Chuck imagined, the same look Stacker had probably given his father in the desert somewhere on their first meeting. There wasn't physical attraction there, just genuine appreciation. Admiration.

“Well, then,” Herc said. “All right.” He picked up his walkie. "Already here, Tendo, you want to circle back?"

"Goddamnit," Tendo replied. "I stepped in some bear shit looking for-" Herc turned the walkie off and smiled.

Chuck slid in next to Yancy. Not like anyone else was fighting for the honor, and he began to get a better understanding of what it was that Yancy probably did for Sasha - everything. With an iron fist. “You used to orienteering?” he asked.

“No,” Yancy said, carefully eating his sandwich. “But how hard is it to read a map when you’ve got a compass?” He’s fucking with me, Chuck thought. He had to be.

“Yeah, well, you wouldn’t image-”

“Mmm,” Yancy said, “I bet you have lots of fun, doing this.”

“Could be worse,” Chuck said. He chewed his turkey sandwich and looked back at the interns. One looked like they were going to throw up.

“Standard Sasha protocol,” Yancy said. “She doesn’t want anyone who couldn’t survive if dropped into a particularly precarious position with her.”

“Yeah, I can see how that would be important,” Chuck said. Yancy smiled at him. They ate in silence for some time, and Chuck tried to figure out how he could wheedle information out of Yancy, now that he had proven himself to be a formidable foe. Then again, the fact that he’d only given Chuck that smarmy smile of his probably indicated that he and Raleigh had a good little giggle about Chuck getting puked on, about how Chuck had made googly eyes at Raleigh-

“So aside from wilderness adventures and driving preschoolers around, what to do you do with your time?” Yancy asked.

“Uh,” Chuck said. He played video games, tried to annoy Mako, and napped and played with Max. And looked for a job. He was definitely doing that.

“No girlfriend?” Yancy asked, and there was that smirk again. “Big lacrosse star like you?”

Oh, fuck off, Chuck thought. And then - might as well. “No,” he said, “and it would be boyfriend.”

“Oh?” Yancy asked. “You know, Raleigh is always on me about that shit - neutral pronouns, I should have said no partner, significant other, that sort of thing…” He shook his head.

“You’d think you would be more sensitive to that, being a man working in the makeup industry,” Chuck replied. Yancy arched an eyebrow at him and nodded his head, acknowledging the point.

“You must have had to do a lot of that in college, you know, explaining how it’s possible to both be gay and be a manly Division I athlete…” He smirked again at Chuck’s expression. “Right,” he said, and waved his hand before Chuck could say anything, “Shit, I’m not going to - I played soccer, and we were considered the gay sport, I know how it goes.”

Chuck nodded - he should have, maybe. At least Herc and Stacker had been pretty much understanding, having been in the military. Even if the team was cool with him having two dads, didn’t mean they wanted someone in the locker room who was thinking about their cocks when they got off. Also, the whole attitude towards Herc and Stacker might be related to the fact that they knew Stacker could fillet them with just a look and a stroke to his mustache.

“Soccer is a gay sport,” Chuck replied. Yancy grinned at him, but this time the expression almost seemed friendly.

It figured that Yancy would be a complete natural on the ropes course, as well. Sasha and Aleksis weren’t bad, but they lacked his natural grace and agility. He attacked the course like a beast, probably only yielding to Sasha and Aleksis because they were the ones who wrote and signed his paycheck.

“How long is that zipline?” Yancy asked Chuck, reaching the end of the course.

“Twelve hundred feet,” Chuck replied. “One of the longer ones in-”

“You didn't send the dog down this one, then?” Yancy asked, latching onto it and then jumping off the platform. Shit head, Chuck thought.

“Stacker, Herc, one of you want to come back here - we’ve got some low hanging fruit,” Tendo called over the walkie talkie system. Chuck rolled his eyes - probably one of the interns. It was always someone, stuck dangling from one of the earlier parts of the ropes course, sometimes crying. The last time Chuck had got stuck with one he’d tried to chat with them while they were clearly distressed - and it only got worse when Stacker tromped through some underbrush with a fucking bowie knife in his mouth.

 _Didn’t you watch the video?_ he asked - more growled - climbing up, hooking himself into the course, and swinging over to get the woman down. _Even the dog can do it!_

 _I’m not even getting paid for this, sir,_ the woman had replied. Stacker had just shook her head at him.

 _Part of the reason we keep Tendo around,_ Herc said, after. _Talks Stacker down. Keeps him from smearing some black shit under his eyes and going native on everyone. Reason we don’t have paintball._

Chuck nodded his head, picking up quicker than normal that this was one of those statements where Herc was telling him a lot of things by just making a quip. He also resisted the urge to point out that the other reason they kept Tendo around was so that Herc had someone he could sneak off and smoke cigarettes with in the woods.

“You got it?” Chuck asked, over the walkie.

“Yeah, head on down, Chuck,” Herc replied. Chuck strapped himself on and grinned. He loved this part. Never got old.

When he reached the bottom, Sasha was shaking her head. “You have her sign the agreement, right?”

“Please,” Yancy said, glancing up from his Blackberry - presumably now functioning, now that they were back in civilization, and, also, the fuck was he doing with it in the woods? “Sasha?”

“Just wanted to check,” Sasha replied.

“Ironclad, no worries,” Yancy said.

There was not a speck on the motherfucker, no visible sweat lines. Chuck shook his head at him and Yancy grinned back, still typing.

* * *

_Had fun with your boyfriend today,_ Yancy’s text read.

Raleigh sighed.

“You! You missed that on purpose,” Jin said.

“Suck my balls,” Hu replied, turning his controller to the side and managing to flip off his brother with the same gesture.

“Raleigh will,” Cheung said.

 _that’s unnecessarily mean, yancy,_ he replied. _  
_

_no need,_ yancy replied, _your little koala bear is super gay._

Raleigh blinked at the screen - he could only imagine. Probably got Aleksis to hold him upside down while Sasha shouted questions at him. _Yance…_

_asked if he had a gf and he said, no, and it would be bf...SO PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING HOLY ASK HIM ON A FUCKING DATE._

_just because he’s gay doesn’t mean he’s interested,_ Raleigh wrote back.

_he’s interested, rals._

“What is so exciting?” Jin asked Raleigh.

“Oh, Yancy decided he was going to figure out for me...and so, Chuck is gay, and I said, just because he’s gay doesn’t mean he likes _me_ -”

Hu looked up at Raleigh. “Because he has issues with washboard stomach and pretty blonde hair.”

“My hair is not fucking pretty,” Raleigh replied.

“It is like princess hair,” said Hu.

 _do you think I have princess hair?_ Raleigh asked.

 _I am not dignifying that with a response,_ Yancy replied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AM WILD ANIMAL is courtesy of Hyperbole and a Half, which you should read, if you haven't. If only to read the three Simple Dog stories:
> 
>  
> 
> [Dog](http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/07/dog.html)
> 
>  
> 
> [Moving](http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/11/dogs-dont-understand-basic-concepts.html)
> 
>  
> 
> [Wild Animal](http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2011/04/wild-animal-simple-dog-goes-for-joy.html)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Think of this as the calm before the storm.

“You are moping,” Mako said, nudging the foot he had up on the couch with her elbow.

“Am not,” Chuck said. “I am playing video games. Which is not moping.”

“Mmmhmm,” Mako said. She sat down on the chair next to him and opened up her tablet. “Is this about working with father and Herc?”

“Naw, that’s fine,” Chuck said. “I mean, it can be fun...just…” Mako had a super prestigious internship and was on the fast track for lucrative graduate school fellowships. Max grumbled on his lap, agreeing with Chuck.

“It is not because you are not capable,” Mako said. “You just do not know what you want.” Chuck sighed - he’d picked his major because he liked the combination of science and the classes that focused on not just applying it but to make people’s lives better. He knew he should be applying at not-for-profits, but everyone he knew from college who had gone that route had struck him as really over zealous.

“And you do?”

“No one does,” Mako said. “But I have chosen something with a clear path.”

“Goddamnit,” Chuck said when his character died. “Fuck.”

“But I do not think you are moping about your current directionless state,” Mako said. “You have been content with it before.” Chuck looked over at her, marveling - she managed to say things like this and sound wise rather than judgmental and bitchy. “So what is it?”

“I’m fine,” Chuck said. He scratched Max’s head and looked at the dog for confirmation. The traitor appeared to be siding with Mako.

“If you continue to mope, it will soon turn to wallowing,” Mako said. “And then Herc will get involved. Possibly father.”

Chuck considered this and nodded his head. She was right - as usual.

* * *

“On Mondays,” Lucy said, in a very dramatic voice, “we sing the Monday song.” She twirled Ms. Doge around with her as they approached the preschool.

“That’s great,” Chuck said. “I bet it’s a great song.”

“It is,” Lucy said. “But we don’t have songs about any other days of the week.” Chuck had to try really hard not to laugh at the expression that her face shifted to as she considered why this might be. Chuck tried to remember being young enough that he wanted to go back to school, but he couldn’t.

He didn’t know what he expected - he supposed, maybe, he was being optimistic, thinking this week might be different - but when he dropped Lucy off Mr. Becket was talking to another one of the parents in earnest. Not like Chuck had accomplished anything on Saturday. In fact, he was pretty sure that the only information he got about Mr. Becket was what Yancy volunteered, and that was that he wanted his older brother to be more careful and neutral with his language choices.

“Have a good day, Lucy-boo,” Chuck said.

“Ms. Doge too?” she asked, holding the dog out.

“Yeah,” he replied, and scratched the stuffed dog’s head.

* * *

“You doing alright, Little Hansen?” Tendo asked as sat down next to him at lunch.

“Great,” said Chuck. Nothing made your Monday like taking an acapella group on a white water rafting trip.

“No you’re not - you look constipated.”

“That’s great, Tendo, thanks,” Chuck said.

Tendo elbowed him in the ribs. “We could talk about it, you know. Want a cigarette?”

“I don’t smoke.”

“Because of lacrosse, which you don’t seem to be doing anymore, and don’t lie to me, kid, I’m sure you’ve sucked a few down drunk. C’mon.”

Chuck sighed - he could do with a little nicotine rush. Especially since the acapella group appeared to be ready to finish their lunches, which meant they were going to burst into song at any moment. The last one had been One Direction, and it had taken a lot for Chuck to just grin and act like he was pleased with all of the spontaneous free acapella he was getting.

Tendo had a secluded spot near the picnic grounds on site, complete with what appeared to be a cement ash tray. “Lucy made it for me on pottery day,” he said. “But she said it was a bowl.”

“Ah,” Chuck replied. Should have known. He accepted the cigarette and inhaled, then coughed. Tendo smiled at him.

“Sit, Little Hansen, tell me your problems. I’m at your disposal.”

Chuck sighed - might as well. Maybe Tendo would be more helpful than Mako? Not that Mako wasn’t right, but Chuck hadn’t pushed it further. He didn’t exactly trust her with giving him advice on...relationships. Not-even-relationships, but what to do when you had a crush on someone. On your little sister’s preschool teacher.

“How do you...you know, um-”

“Well, in your case, when a boy loves another boy, they get together and-”

“Fuck, no, like, ask someone out?” Chuck said.

Tendo exhaled as he considered this. “What does this guy like to do?”

“Um.” Chuck sighed. “He’s hot? And...”

“Booze,” said Tendo. “Or coffee, depending on the time of day. Most people like these things. And, you know, worse comes to worse, you have one drink, say you have to go to the bathroom, and make a break for it.” Chuck got the sense Tendo had done this before he met Allison.

“Right,” Chuck said. “OK.”

“You know, and if he says no, how awkward can it be? You ask over text, you know-”

“I see him everyday,” Chuck said.

“Wait - this isn’t about the Pretty Boy you were chatting up on Saturday?” Tendo asked.

“No, his brother,” Chuck said, and immediately felt himself go a little bit red. Damn pale skin.

“Oh boy,” said Tendo, and he pat him on his back.

* * *

Suck it up, Hansen, Chuck told himself. You have done things that required a lot more balls than this.

He had gone home and changed for the whole thing, out of his white water gear - thank god it was over after lunch - and into one of his lightweight button downs. He had fussed with his hair.

He got there a little early so he was able to raise both his eyebrows at Mr. Becket as the kids finished picking up their toys. He glanced off to the side and gave Chuck a slight, shy smile that made Chuck feel - well, butterflies, or whatever, so it made him feel pretty stupid. He wasn’t a teenage girl.

Mr. Becket walked over to the barrier as the kids gathered things. “Hope Yancy wasn’t too much trouble,” he said. “He had a really good time.”

“No, he was...pretty, uh, capable, actually,” Chuck said, and nodded his head.

“Yeah, ruthlessly capable,” Raleigh replied. His smile broadened.

Chuck tried to remember back to a class he had taken where, one day, they had watched and analyzed people’s body language to determine what they were communicating - including whether they were attracted to another person. He was drawing complete blanks.

“Look, uh, I just-” He stopped, though, when Mr. Becket opened his mouth and sort of held it open.

“Um, I hope I’m not getting this wrong, but, uh, would you maybe like to get a drink? Sometime? Um…”

“Tonight?” Chuck said. He wasn’t going to spend days waiting for this, if possible.

“Yeah, sure,” Mr. Becket - Raleigh, Chuck corrected himself, Raleigh - said, and he exhaled and appeared really relieved. “Um, you know River Bend Brewing Company?”

“Sure,” Chuck said.

“Chuck! What are you talking about?” Lucy asked, assailing him and grabbing his leg.

“How about seven?” Raleigh asked, unfazed.

“My favorite number is twelve,” said Lucy.

“I like seven,” said Chuck. “It’s good.” Raleigh nodded at him.

“See you and Ms. Doge tomorrow, Lucy,” he said.

“Bye Mr. Becket!” Lucy said. She reached and grabbed Chuck’s hand and basically hopped and skipped out to the car.

“What’s got you so happy?” Chuck asked.

“We had a reading word quiz today and I was the best, Chuck,” Lucy said. “Mr. Becket says it’s probably ‘cause dad and daddy read with me all the time.” Chuck furrowed his brow - he was completely unaware of this, but then, he stayed out of the whole bath time and going to bed rituals. Herc used it as an opportunity to put Lucy under the impression that everyone went to bed at eight in the evening.

“Well, that’s really great,” Chuck said, and he smiled. They’d been worried about Lucy, initially, she had been shy and had a lot of developmental delays - but it seemed she was doing really well, now. She had certainly caught up.

“You have big dimples,” said Lucy. Chuck felt himself redden, though he wasn’t sure why.

“Um, thanks,” Chuck said. Lucy beamed up at him.

* * *

“I think I should probably wear the same thing, right?” Chuck asked, assessing himself in the mirror. He needed to start running again. Join a gym, maybe. He tugged at his jeans. “Tuck the shirt in?”

Max huffed from the bed. He wasn’t any help - typical, Chuck figured. It went against Max’s basic instincts anyway, he wanted to spend the night watching Netflix with Chuck.

“It shows I’m not trying _too_ hard, right? Are sneakers-”

“Oi, Chuck, you mind coming outside and helping with the tree?” Herc peered into his room and looked confused - it might have been the pile of shirts on the bed that Max had curled up in, or perhaps the fact that Chuck was actually using the mirror in his closet.

“Um, I made plans. For a thing.”

“A thing?” Herc asked. “You know I asked your help-”

“I didn’t know you were doing it tonight!” Chuck said. He was positive Herc hadn’t mentioned a specific evening when he indicated they were going to trim down the huge elm.

“Are you going...out? On a date?” Herc asked. Chuck didn’t even need to answer - his stupid pale skin did it for him. He felt like he was burning. “That dick head from Saturday?”

“Uh...no?” Chuck said. Fuck, he’d just ate lunch with the guy. Herc began to go through his catalogue of male people that Chuck knew.

“I’ve heard good things about the, uh, Internet sites these days-”

“No, it’s with Mr. Be-” Chuck stopped, but it was too late. Herc’s eyes widened and then he nodded his head.

“Well, good on you. Great bloke.” Herc said and he smiled slightly. Oh, God, Chuck thought, was this what you did with your dad when you both liked women? Oi, good on you, Chuck, the preschool teacher has great tits? “All right then. You have a good time, then.”

“Do you think, like, tuck the shirt in? Or…” Chuck wasn’t sure why he even blurted it out, but Herc seemed to be legitimately considering it.

“Hmm. Out, I think,” he said, finally. “You’ll do just great.” Then he smiled and walked away.

Herc used to say that kind of thing to him before his games. Chuck looked over at Max, who was snuffing one of his lacrosse t-shirts fondly. Chuck sighed. Maybe it wasn’t all that different?


	7. Chapter 7

Raleigh was fiddling with his phone when Chuck arrived. He finished typing and then looked up at him and smiled - slight, with a little quirk to the side. He’d changed into a different sweater. How many of them did he own?

“Hey,” Raleigh said, and shoved his phone in his pocket.

Chuck nodded - were they supposed to kiss? Hug? Fuck, he should have looked into this. “Hey,” he said, and they both looked at each other and Raleigh’s smile broadened.

“Have you been here before?” he asked, and thankfully headed for the bar.

“Few times,” Chuck said. “Not, uh, recently.” Stacker and Herc came pretty frequently to get beers for their keg - well, the mini refrigerator they’d drilled some holes in for taps for the mini kegs they bought. They’d thought they were pretty awesome that day.

“We’re just going to get a beer,” Raleigh said to the hostess, and she nodded at them. Chuck wondered if they looked like they were on a date, or just like two guys getting a drink after work on a Monday. The bar wasn’t especially crowded, and Raleigh pulled out a high backed chair for Chuck before taking a seat next to him.

“Oh,” Chuck said. “Thanks.”

“Sure,” Raleigh said, and he looked - it was hard to describe, but there was a definite change in his posture as he sat next to Chuck. A little bit more relaxed, or something. “So.”

They were going to have to talk about things, Chuck realized. He glanced towards the bartender, but he was busy with three other customers - and even that would only save them for a few minutes.

“You, uh, like working at the wilderness course?” Raleigh asked, finally.

“Yeah,” Chuck said. “Good to be outside, keep active, you know...just. Trying to figure out the next thing to do.” He shouldn’t have said that - oh, hello, I’m currently unemployed and living in my childhood bedroom. Would you like to fuck me? Or, date me, he supposed. Which was different.

“Right,” Raleigh said. “I mean, well, I already said-” Oh, god, he remembered our conversations, Chuck thought, “-I did that for awhile, then went back to school. Got a Master’s in Early Childhood Education and Literacy.”

“Huh, that’s…” Chuck didn’t know what to say. “That’s, uh, pretty cool.”

“Yeah, it’s, well, there’s a lot of theory behind, uh, the songs you sing and…” Raleigh shrugged his shoulders. “I like it.”

“You knew you liked kids, though?” Chuck said. The bartender finally came over to take their order. Chuck went with the IPA, Raleigh got the summer beer.

“Well...sort of?” Raleigh said. “I kind of ended up working as an aid at a preschool because it was, um, sort of available and...you know. Rent. Found out I really liked it, so.” He shrugged his shoulders and then took a very long sip of his beer. Chuck did as well. They looked at each other. “What did you, uh, major in?”

“Plant science,” Chuck said. He went through what he hoped was a brief explanation of the major as Raleigh nodded along. Actually, it was pretty easy to talk to Raleigh - he met Chuck’s eyes and smiled, and he had a really good smile, if only a little smile.

“That sounds pretty fucking intense,” Raleigh said, and then flinched, “Sorry, I-”

“Naw, just, you know, I saw you in an art smock and a beret,” Chuck said. Raleigh blushed a bit at this.

“Yeah, well, you know, preschool, so I guess outside of work-”

“Don’t have to explain it, mate,” Chuck said. Something flashed across Raleigh’s face.

“How, uh, long did you live in Australia for?”

“Until I was thirteen,” Chuck said. “But I guess I haven’t lost the accent ‘cause of dad, you know, we encourage each other.”

It got easier from there. It turned out Raleigh was from Anchorage, so he knew what it was like to move around the world. Chuck told him some stories about Max and his misadventures, which turned into a discussion of a television show they both watched.

Then Chuck brought up Herc and Stacker and Raleigh grinned. “You know, I think the moms are split over whether they like it better that you’re dropping Lucy off or…” Chuck sort of widened his eyes. He was not sure how to respond to that and the silence between them became palpable. “Oh, sorry, that was awkward, I shouldn’t have-”

“Naw, it’s - there’s that one mom, she’s definitely-”

“Oh, yeah, the twins mom,” Raleigh said, and he looked down at his shows. “She’s...something.” He arched an eyebrow. “I think she was the one who started calling them - oh, shit.”

“Gotta finish it now,” Chuck said, and he sipped at his beer.

“The hot dads.”

“Oh, yeah, not the first time I’ve heard that,” said Chuck. “Can’t take them anywhere.” Raleigh nodded, relieved.

Silence fell between them again, and then Chuck saw Raleigh’s eyes dart to the television in the bar. Not a good sign, he thought. You’re losing him. “Sorry - just, I’m really into...do you like hockey?”

Chuck turned. Looked like it was Game 6 of the Conference Finals. “Yeah,” he said. “Going to school, you know, where I did-”

“Oh, right, bet that was pretty crazy,” Raleigh said. “Cornell.”

“Yeah,” Chuck said. Raleigh met his eyes and turned his head slightly. “Guess I just don’t - people always think you’re some kind of asshole, you know? I mean, we do all right, especially since Stacker and Herc just get to fuck around in the wilderness all day...but I went on full scholarship, so-”

“So you were pretty smart,” Raleigh said.

“Um, no - just really good at whacking a little ball into a net.”

“How’d you get into lacrosse, anyway?” Raleigh asked, and Chuck was grateful that he made the segue easy.

“Oh, closest thing to rugby, I guess, I played that back home,” Chuck said. “I mean, it’s not, uh, close to rugby because there’s sticks and a net and a smaller ball but, you know, same amount of physicality. And I certainly wasn’t going to play fucking football.”

“Oh?” Raleigh asked.

“Yeah, that is just…” Chuck shook his head. “You don’t like football, oi?”

“Um, it’s all right. I’ll watch a game, you know, with the guys, but.” The guys? Chuck had a hard time of conceptualizing of Raleigh with a group of men, especially considering that one of them probably included Yancy. “I really don’t want the Penguins to win - they’ve won enough, you know?”

“Yeah,” Chuck said. He hadn’t been paying much attention to the playoffs. “What, five years ago?” Raleigh nodded, and he seemed pleased. He supposed this was one of the things you were supposed to do - establish commonalities. Make it about more than physical attraction. Which there was, on his part. OK, yes, he had seared images of a shirtless Raleigh into his brain and jacked off to them. And Raleigh had to be - he wouldn’t have agreed to a date if he didn’t think Chuck was all right?

Chuck managed not to say anything stupid or objectionable for the remainder of their conversation. He was sort of pleased with himself. Such standards! he thought, much achievement.

Raleigh was the one to end it. “I hate to, um...be lame,” Raleigh said. “But it’s almost 9:00 and I have to get up pretty early - well, you know, sort of, I usually get there an hour before…”

“Oh, no,” Chuck said. He had thought things were going well. “That’s...understandable.”

“Great, so, um, I guess…” Raleigh took his phone, and Chuck felt like dying a little bit inside - he probably had tons of text messages to look into from all of his friends. “I should get your number? And we could, um. Do something again?”

“Yes.” Chuck said. “I will. I would. Um, here.” He gave Raleigh his phone number and smiled at him, and then followed Raleigh off of his chair and out to the door. “My car is, uh, over there,” he said.

“Mine’s there,” Raleigh said, pointing to a newish Toyota in the opposite direction. Sensible, Chuck thought. Raleigh gave him a smile, and Chuck smiled back and sort of bit at his lip, and then Raleigh looked down and seemed to grin before he leaned in slightly. Then Chuck leaned in and Raleigh leaned in and then they were both close, but not enough. Chuck sort of laughed, and Raleigh laughed, and then he put a hand on Chuck’s jaw and closed the space to give him a kiss.

It was tame, as far as kisses went, soft and open - easy, and Chuck settled into it and smiled when Raleigh pulled back and let his hand fall.

Chuck walked to his car and sat for a moment. He fiddled with his phone, trying to find the right song and to pull himself together - but fuck this, he thought, you’re twenty-two years old and so maybe this was your first actual date, you should not be acting like you’re thirteen. Then his phone vibrated in his hand and he saw the message:

_had a really great time! forgot to tell you._

_I did too,_ Chuck replied.

_I will txt you tomorrow and let you know how this week looks?_

Was he supposed to reply to that? At what point did you...fucking hell, Chuck thought. _sure sounds good._ He hit send and grimaced.

When he got home he walked into the kitchen, figuring that it would be empty, and inwardly winced when he saw Stacker rummaging through the fridge. He closed the door slowly and grinned at Chuck. “You had a date?”

“Um.” Chuck met Stacker’s eyes, wanting to see if he could determine if he was feeling particularly feral that day. “Yeah.”

“With Mr. Becket.”

“Mmmhmm,” Chuck said.

“Did you have dinner?” Stacker asked.

“Uh...beer?”

“Thought so,” Stacker said, opened the fridge again, and removed a portion of grilled chicken and vegetables from the fridge. “You want this heated?”

“No, I’m good,” Chuck said, and he sat down at the bar stool at the counter. Stacker smiled at him and Chuck smiled back. Not that he and Stacker didn’t get along - well, there had been a period, when he was a teenager, but that was normal for blended families, Chuck felt. But now, Stacker was clearly up to something. He’d been lying in wait. Chuck felt a little bit like he’d been cornered by a leopard and was whatever it was leopards ate.

Oh, Christ, Chuck thought. He’s going to give me the talk.

“Look,” said Stacker, and he cut up some cheese and pepperoni from the fridge, “this is good, going on a date. I know you haven’t had the chance to…” he waved the knife at Chuck.

“I know how sex happens,” Chuck said. Stacker laughed and ate a stack of cheese and pepperoni.

“I didn’t mean that - more, you know, being in college, kids don’t really date, do they? Hook up culture, or, whatever-” Oh, god, Chuck thought, and he did his very best to hold his laugh in. He had to smirk, at least. “So take the opportunity, uh, to get to know each other.”

“OK,” Chuck said.

“Especially Mr. Becket, I’m sure he - I mean, look at that brother of his. He’s probably capable and responsible as well, so you should…” Oh, god, he thought. Stacker had a competency crush.

And Chuck wasn’t even sure what was happening anymore, so he just nodded. “OK,” he said. “Wait, do you not want me to fuck this up ‘cause Lucy really likes Mr. Becket?”

“Really, Chuck?” Stacker asked. “She’s going to kindergarten in the fall, why would I side with the preschool teacher?” He grinned at Chuck, to let him know it was all just a joke - but even then, Chuck couldn’t tell if he meant it one hundred per cent.

It was impossible to imagine him when he had been in the military - he had probably made insurgents shit their pants just by looking at them.

* * *

They went to dinner on Thursday. Raleigh picked a small place in town. “Oh, hey, Kristen,” he said to the waitress, who grinned at him. “How’s Molly?”

“Doing really well,” the waitress said. “About to go into second grade.”

“Wow,” said Raleigh. “That makes me feel old.” He smiled, and he looked - how old was he? Chuck wondered. It was incredibly hard to tell, because at some angles, the way he turned his head, it emphasized his strong jaw and he seemed older than Chuck, at least. But he also had these sort of puppyish expressions, too. Chuck did the math - he worked after graduating, masters degree, had taught at least two years of preschool. Around twenty-seven, then.

“Don’t I know it,” said Kristen.

“How’s your week been?” Raleigh asked.

“Oh, all right,” said Chuck. “The acapella group on Monday may have been the highlight so far, but we’ve got another youth group tomorrow and they can be such little fuckers despite all the church stuff. Too many hormones with no outlet - you can only, like, do relay races and ropes courses for so long, so know?”

Raleigh nodded. “You must get so many interesting groups.”

“Yeah, but it’s fine, usually, as long as they want to do it. But then there’s always the few who are just right fucking cunts to deal with…” Raleigh had flinched and Chuck wasn’t sure why. He went back through his statement. “Oh, um, sorry,” he said.

“Not used to hearing that word just, uh, tossed around, is all.”

“Aussie thing,” Chuck said. Raleigh looked at him. “Excuses a lot of piss poor behavior, actually. People don’t expect much from us, you know?” He was relieved when Raleigh smiled. Save! he thought. “But, yeah, you know, someone always gets stuck on the rope course and feels like it’s their fault, even though someone else is just whizzing right by. Like your brother.”

Chuck sort of winced, not sure if he should have brought Raleigh’s brother into it. “Yeah, ha. Yancy. I’m sure he did everything just great,” Raleigh said.

Definitely a boner move, Chuck thought. “Got lost in the woods for a bit.”

“Probably on purpose,” Raleigh said, and shook his head. “Do you have, um, siblings?”

“Stepsister,” Chuck said. “Mako. Genius - she’s an engineering student at MIT.”

“So you get it?” Raleigh said, and Chuck wondered how he’d managed to glean that from his statement. Raleigh was really good at reading people - this was not a skill Chuck had. “Yancy was always...Yancy always knows what to do and how to do it somewhere between well or perfect.” Raleigh shook his head.

Their drinks arrived and Chuck decided to ask how Raleigh’s week had been even though he had a general idea from Lucy. It was interesting to get a different perspective, though.

Chuck was relieved by the time they were done - he’d only said cunt two more times and had managed not to reveal too many less than sparkling parts of his personality. Talking about wanting to cunt punt a teammate had been a low point, but he’d salvaged it with a sarcastic joke.

Outside, they kissed again, and Raleigh put a hand on Chuck’s hip and then reached down and cupped his ass. Chuck sort of groaned and slid his tongue into Raleigh’s mouth. Raleigh pulled back, after a long, lingering press to Chuck’s lips. “Thanks,” he said. “I had a great time.”

Chuck smiled as he head to his car. It had to have gone well, he thought, if he got a kiss like that. And he liked Raleigh - he made Chuck laugh, he was easy to talk to, he wasn’t judgmental. Chuck didn’t feel twitchy around him, except being worried about making a mistake, doing something that would make Raleigh realize he didn’t want him after all.

He turned some music on and waited for Raleigh to pull out of the parking lot so he didn’t look like a complete creeper who was following him home - though he wanted to. If he wanted to get laid he was going to need Raleigh to pick him up, he decided. Or find some excuse to go to his apartment. For some reason hey, want to watch Netflix didn’t sound very - it was basically just like asking Raleigh to suck his cock.

Though what do you know? Chuck thought. All previous encounters with men had been furtive and largely based on physical attraction. Chuck had never worried if they were going to text him back. Where was the text proposing another date? he wondered. Like before?

Instead, he got, _really liked seeing you again! :)_

“Aw, look at that,” Tendo said, when Chuck told him about his date on Friday morning. “Usually there is, like, a prescribed amount of time you’re supposed to wait, so you don’t, ah, seem too interested or creepy or whatever.”

“You were more concerned with creepy, weren’t you?” Chuck asked.

“Haha,” said Tendo. “So, what’s the problem?”

“Well, last time he let me know, you know, I’ll get in touch...but this time he hasn’t? So...what does that mean?” Tendo shook his head at Chuck.

“Might want to ask Allison that,” Tendo said. Chuck whacked him, hard, on the upper arm. “Ow! I wasn’t implying you were being...girly, just, she’s better at that shit, you know. I threw myself to her mercy, soon as I met her. Hoped she would have me.”

“Good save,” Chuck said. “And the smiley face? What does it mean?”

“I don’t know, man, I dated before texting,” Tendo said. He waved his hand. “Let me tell you about ye olden times, back when we had something called dial-up Internet and…”

Chuck checked his phone compulsively all of Friday. Mako took it away from him during the middle of _The Incredibles_ because it was distracting Lucy. “What is so interesting on the phone, Chuck?” Lucy asked.

“I’m just waiting to hear from someone,” Chuck said.

“Someone important?”

“I would say so,” said Herc, and he looked at Stacker and both of them grinned - like they’d just taken Chuck to buy a goddamn training bra or something.

Raleigh texted on Saturday afternoon. _do you want to come over and watch hockey game? Just be Yancy and the guys but they will probably go out after? If you don’t mind??_

Yes, thank you, merciful god, Chuck thought. Mako shook her head at him. “What?” Chuck asked.

“It is cute,” Mako said. “And proof you have room in your heart for something other than Max.” Chuck clasped his hands over Max’s ears and shook his head at her before texting back that he would come.

_I can’t make any promises but I will try and keep Yancy on his best behavior._

Chuck brought a twelve pack of beer, not knowing how many people compromised the guys. He stood with it awkwardly hanging in front of him after he rang the door to the apartment.

“Oh, hey, douchebag,” said Yancy, and then he noticed it was Chuck. He blinked at him. “Uh, sorry. Thought you were someone else. How are you, Chuck?”

“Great,” Chuck replied.

“He brought beer!” Yancy called in and opened the door wide. The apartment was fairly spacious and neat, not what Chuck expected from two bachelor brothers. Framed black and white photographs were all over one of the walls.

“Aw, thanks, Chuck,” Raleigh said. He was in the kitchen, pouring some snacks into a dish. “You want to introduce him, dick head, while I call Hu?”

“Chuck, this is Jin and Cheung. We’re just waiting on their brother, who has got lost with the pizza.”

“Useless,” said Jin or Cheung.

“Don’t try and tell them apart,” Yancy said, and gave Chuck with that same disconcerting grin he had used on Chuck when they were on the hike. “Jin and Cheung, this is Raleigh’s special friend Chuck.”

The twins looked at Chuck, then at Raleigh, and one grinned at Chuck while the other shook his head at Raleigh.

“You like hockey?” asked one of the twins.

“Yeah,” Chuck said.

“They make us watch this,” said the other twin. He shook his head.

“We decide it is all right,” said the other.

Raleigh hung the phone up and smiled at Chuck. “Take a seat, I’ll put your beer in the fridge - Hu got pulled over, but he didn’t get a ticket, so...apparently his tail light is out.” One of the twins shook his head and the other said something to the other in their own language that Chuck thought was probably relatively unflattering about their other brother.

Chuck sat on the empty couch facing the television and sort of narrowed his eyes at Yancy when he appeared to be debating whether or not to sit down next to him. Yancy held his hands up and then sat on the larger couch with the twins.

Raleigh sat next to him after putting the snacks on the coffee table and handed Chuck a beer.

“You want Montreal or Chicago?” one of the twins asked.

“Uh, Canadians, I guess,” Chuck said. “Chicago just won, so.” He cocked his head - there was something slightly off about the broadcast.

“Yancy pays extra for CBC,” Raleigh said.

“It’s not the fucking same when it’s not Hockey Night in Canada and you know it,” Yancy replied. There was a knock on the door. “Thank fuck.”

Chuck blinked when the other brother entered with two pizza boxes. They had to be triplets - but were they identical? “Don’t try and figure it out,” Raleigh said. “I gave up on it.”

“They have a hivemind anyway,” Yancy said, setting the pizza on the coffee table.

Chuck sat back and relaxed after eating - it was just like getting together with his teammates to watch whatever game on TV. They insulted each other, though Chuck largely kept out of that portion of things, they insulted the players on the television, they drank beer. At some point Raleigh sort of leaned into him, pressed their thighs together and gave Chuck a small smile. Chuck smiled back.

“Adorable,” Yancy said.

“You are just jealous,” said one of the triplets.

“Don’t see any hot Australian that wants your cock,” said another.

“I told you, no threesomes,” Raleigh hissed, and Chuck laughed.

Then he looked over at the screen. “The fuck are they doing putting Pavlov on the forecehck?”

“Oh, fuck no!” said one of the triplets.

“They have real issues with forecheck and backcheck,” Yancy said. “They’ve only just started to understand off sides.”

“Oh,” said Chuck. “Forecheck’s when you move a defensemen forward to add extra pressure to the attack, backcheck’s when you move a forward back to give some extra oomph to the defense.”

The three triplets looked at him, then turned to Yancy in unison. “You watch this fucking game since childhood and it takes Crocodile Dundee to explain?” one asked.

“Oi,” said Chuck. “There is more to Australia than-”

“Fine, be Steve Irwin,” said another.

“Kylie Minogue,” said a third.

“Don’t you dare bring Kylie into this,” Chuck said.

As Raleigh predicted, once the game was over Yancy and the triplets announced that they were going out. He called a car service, which surprised Chuck. “Book it under the Kaidanovsky account,” he said. “Authorization 0656a. Like alpha.”

“Sasha gives him all the perks,” Raleigh said.

“Doesn’t get taxed,” Yancy said, and shrugged.

After they left, Chuck helped Raleigh clean up. His hand brushed against his as they both went to put empty beer bottles back in the case. Raleigh looked at him and smiled. Chuck felt a little nauseous. He’d been wanting this to happen and knew it was going to happen but still- “Hey,” said Raleigh. Then he kissed him, slow only for the first moment and then hard and deep, working his way into Chuck’s mouth and sucking slightly on his lower lip.

“Hey,” Chuck said, and Raleigh’s lips drifted down his jaw and kissed at the spot where his neck and ear met. “Oh.”

“You want to put a movie in?” Raleigh asked. Chuck nodded.

They got tangled into each other quickly and spent most of the time kissing, sliding their hands over each other. Raleigh was hard and firm, his ass fit neatly into Chuck’s hands. “Your ass is kind of amazing,” Raleigh murmured, squeezing Chuck’s and then cupping it. “Sorry,” he said, realizing Chuck was blushing.

“No, it’s just…” Chuck tucked his head down, remembering some of his early training sessions. _Hansen certainly doesn’t need to do more squats!_ one of the juniors said.

“It’s a really great ass,” Raleigh said.

Raleigh was an excellent kisser - Chuck hoped he didn’t disappoint. Raleigh kept kissing, so there was at least hope for him. He only really broke away when his phone beeped. “Yance is on his way back,” Raleigh said. “You want to, uh-” He inclined his head towards a door that Chuck presumed was his bedroom.

“Yeah,” Chuck said. His cock was sort of straining against his pants. Raleigh grinned at him and stood up, then extended his hand.

“Just one sec,” he said, and felt himself grow redder because of what he had to do. On the one hand, he thought, fuck this, I’m an adult and I can have a sleepover with...my special friend, but, on the other, he didn’t want Herc to worry.

Raleigh gave him a soft smile after he sent the text. “OK?” he asked.

“OK,” Chuck said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah, sorry. don't worry! they'll get there - and there is a reason for dividing the chapters here, I promise.


	8. Chapter 8

Raleigh flicked a light on and Chuck glanced around quickly, trying to see if there was anything...noteworthy. Any signs that Raleigh Becket, preschool teacher, might be a secret serial killer who wanted to wear Chuck’s skin as a people suit.

There were just more black and white pictures tacked to cork boards mounted on the wall, an innocuous looking comforter, a closet presumably full of sweaters - oh, and several candles on the dresser, which made Chuck grin. “Oh, ah - Yancy got those from some free thing sent to Sasha,” Raleigh said. “She packs him off with shit all the time.”

Chuck just smiled at him and raised his eyebrows, ready. Raleigh swallowed and then closed the distance between them. This kiss was hard and needy, and it only took a few moments for Chuck to grab onto Raleigh’s sweater and tug at it.

Raleigh stretched his arms easily above his head to help get it off and looked exactly as good as Chuck remembered. “Yeah,” Chuck said.

Raleigh turned his head to the side and then smiled and pulled Chuck’s own shirt off. He seemed to have a similar reaction, and then sat back down on the bed and spread his legs. Chuck got between them and kissed Raleigh, who put a hand on his chest and ran it through the hair there. Chuck huffed.

“I like it,” Raleigh said.

“Sure,” Chuck managed.

“I do,” Raleigh said, and he pulled Chuck back into a kiss. Chuck fumbled with his own jeans as they did this, his cock now straining against them.

Raleigh leaned back and smiled at him, then scooted back a bit further on the bed. Chuck climbed in over top and got his own jeans off. Raleigh’s finger traced down from his navel to the waistband of his boxer briefs, making Chuck groan. Raleigh moved his finger back up and seemed entirely too pleased with Chuck’s furry ginger bits, but Chuck certainly wasn’t going to dissuade him.

Chuck sort of fell over top Raleigh and he laughed as Chuck pressed his cock into Raleigh’s thigh. “Yeah, that feels - that feels good, Chuck, that’s really nice, you have a great cock,” Raleigh said. Something about the enthusiasm in his voice made Chuck think Mr. Becket, but he pushed that away.

“That’s...you too,” Chuck said, glancing over and down. Raleigh’s dick was big probably bigger than Chuck’s and definitely wider. Chuck sort of swallowed and hoped that Raleigh didn’t have any particular expectations for how things were going to go, because if he wanted to put that in Chuck’s ass - well, Chuck knew, having done his research, but he didn’t really _know_ what they would need to do. And so that probably meant it was best off being left for another evening.

Raleigh grinned at him and pulled him down into a searing kiss. Chuck thumbed at one of his nipples. Raleigh groaned. “Yeah, Chuck,” he said, and so Chuck twisted a bit with his thumb and finger. “Yeah, that’s…” Raleigh traced a hand down his side and then cupped his ass again. “God, you really do have an amazing it, it’s so...mmm…” Raleigh had a sort of dopey grin on his face, and Chuck did his best to return it.

“Heey, kids!” Yancy called, and Raleigh froze, then laughed a little bit and shook his head. “Good, excellent, I am pissing and passing out, OK?”

“You ever heard of a sock on the door?” Chuck asked.

“Bathroom’s out there in the hall,” Raleigh replied, and it took Chuck a moment before he nodded, understanding. “Where were we?”

“Um.”

“Your ass,” Raleigh said, and he visibly brightened. He cupped both sides of it this time and squeezed. “Really, really great.”

Chuck nodded and kissed him, mostly so he would stop narrating the whole experience. Raleigh’s tongue twisted and plunged into his mouth and fuck, he was a good kisser. He sucked long and hard at Chuck’s lower lip this time. Chuck groaned when Raleigh released it with a pop.

They both looked at each other. Raleigh smiled slightly and Chuck arched an eyebrow.

“So…” Chuck said, finally.

“Oh,” said Raleigh. He tugged at the band of Chuck’s boxer briefs and let it snap back against his skin. Then he rubbed the spot. “I mean, what do you want-”

“I, um…” Chuck wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say. His cock really didn’t seem to care, still pressed between him and Raleigh’s thigh, but he couldn’t help but worry about his response. After all, he thought to his dick - which was pretty pathetic - if you want further encounters along these lines we need to behave. “I don’t care, I-”

“Oh. Um,” Raleigh said, and his smile wavered a little bit and then he kissed Chuck again. It only took Chuck a few moments to realize this was a stalling tactic. He doubted someone as fucking good looking as Raleigh didn’t have experience. He probably wasn’t used to taking the lead on things. It fit - he seemed pretty agreeable.

Chuck thrust his cock into Raleigh’s thigh again, hoping to let him know that they should get on with things. “We could, um…” Raleigh rolled them on their sides

He reached over Chuck to the bedside drawer. “Shit, I, um...hold on.” He sort of flopped ineffectually over Chuck. He resembled a puppy even more than ever, sort of wiggling, though Chuck appreciated the fact that his ass was in Chuck’s face. “Here we go.”

He held the lube up to Chuck like it was the answer to all their problems.

“Great,” Chuck said, raising his eyebrows. He reached for Raleigh’s briefs and tugged at them, but, at the angle they were at it just sort of pulled Raleigh down. He planted his chest on Chuck’s face.

His chest was really fucking smooth. “You wax?” Chuck asked, and then immediately turned red, because, really, Hansen?”

“No, Becket family curse, really,” Raleigh said. “Smooth as a...um. Well.” He tugged his own boxer briefs off before he reached for Chuck’s, but he couldn’t get them off since Chuck was still on his side.

“Hold on, um,” Chuck said, and he rolled onto his back and arched his hips.

Raleigh’s grin was worth it, at least, as he took Chuck in. He leaned down and kissed at Chuck’s neck, sort of pressed his face into it before kissing down his chest and then tracing a tongue along his one nipple and then the other. Which felt good, great, almost, but Chuck couldn’t help but note that the lube had fallen somewhere by the wayside - so, even though their underwear was off, they were only doing slightly better in the grand scheme of things.

“Raleigh, I...I want you-”

“Yeah?” Raleigh asked, but again, Chuck wasn’t quite sure what to say.

“You could, just, something?”

“That leaves a lot of room for interpretation,” Raleigh said, then laughed nervously. He reached back and got the lube. Then moved a dry thumb up Chuck’s cock. Chuck shivered into the touch - it was slow, patient, and then Raleigh drew the smooth pad over the tip of Chuck’s cock. “Oh, you’re-” Raleigh glanced at his own, circumcised cock and pressed his lips together.

“Just slide it back!” Chuck said, sounding a bit pained - which, to be fair, he was. He really, really wanted to come. Raleigh nodded, considering this, and seemed surprised when Chuck’s cock wound up looking an awful lot like his own. “S’not like I had a tentadick in there or-”

Chuck clapped a hand over his mouth, not believing he had said that out loud. Great, Chuck, he thought. Way to ensure that you never, ever get laid. Especially this evening.

Raleigh laughed, though, and mercifully, a lubed hand grabbed his cock. “No, it’s a really nice dick,” Raleigh said. He twisted his hand at the root and pulled back up.

 

“Yeah, that’s...that feels so good,” Chuck said. Raleigh arched an eyebrow. “If you, um, pull the skin over and then down again?” Raleigh’s eyes widened and he nodded. Chuck groaned when he did it, slow, and then slightly faster with each new stroke. “Yeah, that’s great, that’s really...uh, fuck!”

“Your cock feels really good in my hand,” Raleigh said, and he leaned in along Chuck’s side. “You look good, too, Chuck, laid out like this, and…” He removed his hand and then traced his finger along the tip of Chuck’s cock. Chuck groaned.

It occurred to him, then, that he should be doing something with Raleigh’s dick. He supposed he could jack him off and, yeah, Raleigh’s hand felt a lot better than his own, but it seemed - they were big boys. They could at least advance one level beyond that.

Chuck reached a hand out and tried to get Raleigh on top of him, but Raleigh didn’t anticipate it and all he did was sort of let go of Chuck’s cock and the elbow him in the chest.

“Aw, shit. Chuck? Was that-”

“Fine,” Chuck said, and he tugged on Raleigh’s ass this time and squeezed, hoping to get him to straddled him again. His cock desperately needed something. He squeezed again, which felt good, sure but - they needed some end game maneuvers, here. “Can you get on top?”

“Oh, yeah, I can,” Raleigh said. He slid over Chuck straddled him, peered down at him. “Oh, you mean-”

“Yeah,” Chuck said.

Raleigh moved down and Chuck issued a loud moan as their cocks came into contact. “Yes, fuck, that’s great,” he said. “Your cock feels really good.” He acted a little more enthused than he actually was, just to keep Raleigh on track and on focus as their cocks sort of slid against each other.

“Fuck, yeah, touching you just like this…” Raleigh flicked his hips so their cocks slid against each other. “Your dick feels good, against mine.”

“I know,” Chuck said. He tried to get a hand between them but couldn’t quite reach. Not that the sensation of Raleigh’s cock against his own wasn’t good, but he needed more - he was beginning to get a hint of frustration and an ache and it didn’t help that Raleigh was smiling over top of him, shoulder muscles flexing as he gently rubbed against Chuck. “It’s…”

“Do you want my hand on both of us?” Raleigh asked. Chuck would have said something snide, like, fucking finally, except he caught Raleigh’s expression and he looked so sweet and earnest.

“Fuck, yeah,” Chuck said.

“Wrapped around us like this?” Raleigh asked. “You can thrust with me, Chuck, just let me…” He twisted his hand over their cocks and both of them moaned.

“Yes, thank fuck!” Chuck said, and Raleigh settled down over top of, increasing the friction between the two of them. He thrust his hips.

They couldn’t quite get a rhythm, though, and Chuck groaned. “Yeah, Chuck, here, like this, with me,” Raleigh said. Chuck inhaled, waited, moved his hips along with Raleigh. He buried his head in Chuck’s neck. “Yeah, yeah, that’s really good, Chuck, I love touching your cock like this.”

Finally, Chuck thought. He felt the beginning of an ebb, that first pleasant hum of anticipation. Raleigh tugged his foreskin over the head of his cock again and Chuck moaned. “Oh, Chuck, yeah - are you close?”

“A little faster,” Chuck said, and he felt bad. Raleigh just looked up at him and smiled down at him. He curled his fingers over Chuck’s cock, slid his foreskin and it felt really good, Chuck’s cock began to thrum and tighten and he needed- “Yeah, that’s, that’s so good.” Raleigh’s hand moved at a quick, light pace. “Raleigh, I-”

“Chuck!” Raleigh said. He thrust his hips faster and Chuck moved along with him, felt his balls pull and tighten and. Chuck turned his head to capture him in a kiss, and it was sloppy and a little wet. “Raleigh, yeah!”

“You feel so good, Chuck, I’m gonna...I’m gonna!” Raleigh’s hips canted faster than his hand, which was mostly on Chuck’s cock anyway. Chuck moaned and then felt himself crest, a bit surprised how quickly his orgasm built and overtook him. Something to do with the deep, satisfied sounds Raleigh was making.

Raleigh hadn’t come, though, Chuck realized, after he recovered, he was still thrusting against Chuck’s spent cock. Chuck managed to get a hand between them and joined his with Raleigh’s. “Yeah, Chuck, please, I want - yeah, that’s...there, there!” Raleigh’s face was gorgeous as he came, long lashes fluttering against his cheeks and his mouth opening slightly. Chuck sighed as another warm sensation washed over his stomach, and then Raleigh sort of collapsed over top of him.

Chuck kissed him, wanted to show that this had been good. Raleigh kissed back, loose and then eager. “Chuck, I-”

“That was really good,” Chuck said. There was no point in post-gaming. Wasn’t like everyone had mind melting sex their first time, anyway. And they had come together in the end. Late game performers.

“I’m glad,” Raleigh said. He ran his clean hand through Chuck’s hair and smiled at him. Chuck smiled back and let Raleigh nuzzle into his neck.

“And I like you, Raleigh, but - don’t think we need to get stuck together. Uh. Pain in the ass to have to ask your brother to separate us.”

“Mmm,” Raleigh agreed, and rolled off of him. Chuck watched the way his muscles flexed and moved and he swallowed, hard. “Be right back.”

Chuck laid on his back - it wasn’t like he could criticize, really, he certainly had no idea what the fuck to do. And it seemed like Raleigh had been more focused on pleasing him, anyway, so… He pulled himself up on his elbows when Raleigh re-entered the room, just to get a good look at him naked.

He was all long, lean muscle. He met Chuck’s eyes and shrugged.

“Fuck, you look good,” Chuck said.

“Well…” Raleigh said, and shrugged. He climbed back into the bed and carefully slid the wash cloth over Chuck’s stomach. Chuck sighed as Raleigh moved it over his cock and then tossed it aside. “Did you, um, want to stay?” His tone was almost hesitant, and Chuck bit his bottom lip.

“If that’s OK?” Chuck said.

Raleigh’s smile broadened - like Chuck would just fuck off home after he texted his dad he was exercising his rights as an official adult and college graduate to have adult sleepovers. If Raleigh wanted him, that was.

“Absolutely,” Raleigh said. He got out of bed, tugged the comforter back, and smiled at Chuck.

He rolled over and got under the lightweight comforter and - he’d never had an adult sleepover before, he realized.

Raleigh, at least, seemed comfortable taking the lead on this. He turned Chuck so that they were facing each other again and traced his thumb along Chuck’s jaw. Then he pulled him in for a long, languid kiss that made Chuck feel sleepy - but in a good way. Another hand worked through Chuck’s hair. “I really like your hair.”

“I made it myself,” Chuck said. Raleigh laughed and Chuck kissed him again, then felt another jolt of panic - how the fuck were they going to decide who was going to be the big spoon or the little spoon?

Thankfully Raleigh used a hand and guided Chuck over on his back and then settled his head on his chest. “Do you mind?”

“No,” Chuck said. “That’s...pretty comfortable, actually.” He felt himself yawn.

“Good,” Raleigh said.

* * *

 

Raleigh closed the door and grinned. Things might have taken awhile to get going, last night, but they’d woke up and he’d managed scrambled eggs, toast, and bacon without any fuss. Chuck had initiated the kiss goodbye, pressing his lips eagerly into Raleigh’s and then sweeping in with his tongue. And Yancy had been too hungover to shuffle out of his room - not that he usually emerged until eleven or twelve on weekends, anyway.

His eyes trailed over the room to see if there was anything else that he needed to pick up and he noticed his phone was flashing at him. There was an absurd amount of texts - he shook his head. Yancy had probably got up to something with the Weis, they were really poor influences on each other-

_You already told him he has a great ass._

Raleigh checked the time stamp on the text and frowned.

_You should probably touch his cock, Rals._

_No, really, touch his COCK. HIS COCK, RALEIGH_

_Maybe his balls, too, that feels good_

_GO DOWN ON HIM FOR THE LOVE OF GOD_

_Just something! Just do something! He’s right this is painful_   
_oh man foreskin is really scary you’re right_

_I think I have blue balls_

_really, hand job? frottage?_

_ARE YOU 13?_

There were two more text messages but Raleigh just deleted them. He stared at his phone for a moment and then went over to Yancy’s door. He banged on it, didn’t ait, then opened it. Yancy was stirring slightly in his bed.

Fuck him, Raleigh thought, got some speed up, and then just launched himself onto Yancy and tackled him.

“The fuck?”

Raleigh wrapped himself around Yancy like an octopus. “You dick head,” he said. “You live texted my-”

“It was painful, Raleigh, I couldn’t - I couldn’t let you go on like that.”

“He slept over and had breakfast!”

Yancy slapped at Raleigh a little bit, managing to dislodge him enough that Yancy was able to grin at him. “Look, deflowering that angry little Aussie gremlin is clearly your task to bear*-”

“The fuck?”

“Exactly - so don’t fuck it up,” said Yancy.

“He’s not a gremlin - you saw him, twice now, he’s really cute, you should have seen him smile when I-” Yancy shoved a pillow in his face and Raleigh struggled against it. “He’s a cute gremlin!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *all credit for _angry Aussie gremlin_ goes to [achilleees](http://achilleees.tumblr.com/)


	9. Chapter 9

Chuck wasn’t sure what he was expecting on Monday morning - oh, hey, good morning, why yes, I fooled around with Mr. Becket this weekend. Except Lucy ran off before Chuck even had a chance to get into the preschool, eager to share something from her own weekend with one of her friends. Chuck just met Raleigh's eyes. He smiled a bit before turning around and heading out.

He sat in the office on Monday - they only had a group of university professors in, so his assistance wasn’t needed. At first he enjoyed the opportunity to just get paid to poke around on the Internet, but then the phone started ringing and he decided that he would rather be out on the ropes course than fielding phone calls.

“Hello?” he said.

“Hello?” said a familiar man. “I was hoping to reach Chuck Hansen, if he’s available.”

Yancy, Chuck realized - and he did not need this. Also, really? Who else would be answering the phone in an Aussie accent. “Speaking.”

“Excellent, Chuck, this is Yancy Becket - I was at your course with the Kaidanovsky group the Saturday prior?” Chuck furrowed his brow - the fuck was Yancy on?

“Right,” Chuck said.

“Sasha was hoping you could send a resume,” Yancy said. “As she mentioned, she’s looking for someone who can assist in translating the work our biochemist is doing into what we’re doing in terms of aesthetics and marketing and, since so many of our ingredients are plant based, we thought you might be a good candidate.”

“Oh,” Chuck said. He scrambled for a pen. “I could certainly do that. If you could give me the e-mail?”

“Send it to me,” Yancy said, which made Chuck feel a bit more dubious - but, what was the worst that could happen based on his resume? Maybe Yancy just wanted to do some background check, and, hell, that was a big brother thing, right? “Becket@chernobox.com. I’ll make sure she receives it and we’ll be in touch.”

“Thank you, I appreciate the opportunity,” Chuck said. He could legitimately do that job, he realized. And Sasha had asked about his background, a little bit. Best to send a real resume, then, and not one that had, under his current job description, a bullet point with _fucking your little brother_. Not that they had got there, yet, but it’s not like Yancy knew that.

He sent off the resume before he went to pick up Lucy. She sort of hurled herself at him when he arrived and he arched an eyebrow at Raleigh, who grimaced.

“They tried to take Ms. Doge!” she said.

“Who?” Chuck asked, feeling something flare inside his gut - he didn’t care if the kid was four, he would give them a what-for.

“Ah, we had a field day with two of the other preschool classes,” Raleigh said. “And one of the teachers didn’t realize that Ms. Doge was allowed at preschool, so.”

“Oh,” Chuck said. Even better. He could legitimately punch an adult.

“But we got it sorted out.” Chuck nodded his head and inhaled. Lucy was allowed Ms. Doge because of how it had helped her to negotiate friendships with the other kids and also for, well, a lot other of reasons that Chuck just sort of intrinsically understood and didn’t need to have explained to him. They could all be traced to the same thing and he was certain were well documented by the various social workers and therapists that Lucy had intermittantly seen.

“She was really mean, Chuck,” said Lucy.

“It could have, uh, been handled better,” Raleigh said. “Actually, if you could have Herc or Stacker, uh, call me at their convenience tonight…”

“Sure,” Chuck said. Raleigh smiled at him.

“Have a good evening, Lucy, Chuck,” he said.

Lucy was sullen as Chuck strapped her into the car seat and zipped Ms. Doge into the carrying case. “I want to go home,” she said, just as Chuck’s phone vibrated.

“Let me just-” _sorry I guess I have to not mix business and pleasure?? dont want other moms accusing favoritism._

_completely understandable,_ Chuck replied.

_do you want to catch movie tomorrow night?_ Chuck grinned. He needed to stop feeling so fucking stupid about all of this, he decided.

_yeah,_ he said. _sounds great. I have to drive Lucy home…_

_right, yeah, of course. ttyl!_

“Who are you typing to?” Lucy asked.

“A friend,” Chuck said, backing the car out of the parking lot.

“From college?”

“Um, yes,” Chuck said, as he narrowly avoided another parent swerving around the parking lot to try and exit before they lost the green light at the intersection. “Motherf-something.”

“Did you almost swear, Chuck?” Lucy said. “Dad says you swear all the time and I am not allowed to repeat anything you say.” Chuck grinned, trying to come up with the scenario where that little sit down had been necessitated.

When Herc got off the phone later that evening he shook his head at Stacker. “Some people,” Stacker said. “Just don’t seem to know when not to make a fuss over something.”

“Well, seemed like Mr. Becket managed it very well,” Herc said. He looked over at Chuck. “He seems to be quite good at dealing with children.”

“Oi, fuck off,” said Chuck. Herc just grinned at him.

* * *

“He doesn’t need to come up,” Chuck said, looking at his phone again. Raleigh was due any minute. “You know who he is.” Stacker grinned at him. “You talked to him last night!”

“About Lucy,” Stacker said.

“As the preschool teacher,” said Herc, leaning back against the island in the kitchen and drinking his beer. “Not as your-”

“I don’t even know if he is,” Chuck replied. He was glad Mako was upstairs giving Lucy her bath and story, because his stepsister would enjoy this far too much.

“Well, all right, guy coming to pick you up for a date.”

“It’s only good manners,” Stacker added. “Come in for a beer.”

“But the movie is at a certain time-” Chuck protested.

Too late, he realized that they had goading him to force Raleigh to come to the door. He gave them his best scowl.

Then he looked down at Max, sitting in his dog bed and mouthing a toy. The traitor had conspired with them - he should have at least barked when the car pulled in the driveway.

“Sounds like someone’s knocking, oi?” Herc said, and then he beat Chuck over to the front door. “Hello.”

“Oh, hello, Mr. Hansen,” said Raleigh. Max perked up and toddled over with Chuck right behind him.

“Herc is good,” Herc said. “Want a beer, Raleigh?”

“Sure,” Raleigh said. “And this must Max - I have heard so much about you,” He leaned down and offered his hand to Max, but Max just moved right in, putting his paws on Raleigh’s knees and looking up at him with adoring eyes. It was like a lot of his preschool students. Raleigh pet his head and scrunched his ears. “Aren’t you adorable,” he said as Max’s tail wiggled vigorously. "Oh you are a special little man I could just smush you all night.' Chuck closed his eyes and shook his head - sure, he felt the same way, but...

Then Raleigh stood up and smiled at Chuck, leaving Max to toddle after them, disappointed he wasn't going to get smushed all night long, into the kitchen.

He made eye contact with Stacker, then, and his smile wavered slightly. “Stacker.”

“Mr. Pentecost,” said Stacker. He held his stern, military expression for a long moment and then smiled. “Just kidding. Here,” he said, and handed Raleigh a beer.

“Thank you, sir,” Raleigh said, and gave him a nervous smile. Chuck closed his eyes and inhaled. While he hadn’t dated before because he had been attempting to hide his sexuality from his lacrosse team, from now he was going to blame Stacker. He would tell him that he knew he would behave like this. “Are you, um, following the Stanley Cup?”

Stacker looked at Herc, who nodded his head. “Hockey,” he said.

“Oh,” said Stacker. “Not really. Been quite busy over at the course.”

“Right,” said Raleigh. “Summer, and all.”

“Just the beginning, too,” said Herc.

“Your brother was by the other day,” Stacker said. “Moved through it quite capably.”

“Unlike that one intern,” said Herc.

“She struggled the whole time,” said Stacker. “I was just trying to get her down. Said she’s afraid of heights, but she wasn’t. I didn’t see fear in her eyes.”

Raleigh met Chuck’s eyes and then drank his beer in two smooth gulps. “Well,” he said. “Thanks for the beer.” He waved his hand at them, slightly, and then looked at Chuck. “Don’t want to be late for the movie.”

When they got outside Raleigh smiled at Chuck. “Sometimes I forget they were, like, bad ass military.”

“I know, right?” Chuck said. They walked out to the car and, right before they separated, Raleigh touched Chuck’s hip. He turned, and Raleigh smiled, then gave him a soft kiss. Chuck kissed back, let his tongue tangle with Raleigh’s, and then grinned when he released him.

Raleigh glanced back towards the house. “I feel like I should open the door for you.”

“S’OK,” Chuck said, imagining Stacker and Herc with night vision goggles. “I’m a big boy. And besides - Max is the only opinion that counts.” Raleigh smiled at him.

Chuck waited until he fastened his seat belt. “Your brother asked me to send my resume-”

“Oh, good, he mentioned Sasha wanted it,” Raleigh said, and he smiled at Chuck as he pulled his Toyota out of the driveway. “She’s great to work for, I guess, if you can manage her...style. Gives Yancy lots of free shit, so.”

“Is that where you got all those fancy products in the bathroom from?” Chuck asked, because he had been waiting until the opportunity presented itself - he had looked online, and he now knew for certain that many of them weren’t even male care products.

“Yeah,” Raleigh said. He just nodded his head and looked resigned. “Yeah. But. Before you say anything further - the moisturizer, it really works.”

“So gay,” said Chuck. Raleigh raised both his eyebrows and then smiled.

“Don’t knock it until you try it,” Raleigh said.

They were fairly close on being late to the movie - well, for the coming attractions, but hell, when you went to a summer blockbuster they were a significant attraction. Chuck wasn’t paying too much attention, then, as they waited in line for concessions. “What do you want?” Raleigh asked him, and he reached and put a hand on the small of Chuck’s back. For a moment Chuck felt a bit scandalized - touching! in public! But then he decided he liked how it felt.

“Coke is fine,” Chuck said. “Popcorn.”

“No candy?” Raleigh asked, and then they were called to the counter.

“Naw, I’m good,” Chuck said, and he gave Raleigh a slight smile. Then he looked up and saw one of the guys that he had played lax with in high school - that he had captained, when he had been a senior.

“So, a medium coke and popcorn and one of the big things of skittles,” Raleigh said, completely missing the silent interaction that was going on between Chuck and Bryan.

“Hey,” the kid said, finally, and this sly smile spread across his face - like he was the fucking Grinch. Like he was definitely going to be posting this on Facebook as soon as he got the chance.

Chuck glanced over at Raleigh, who was digging through his wallet for money. “Hey, Bryan,” he said. “You doing all right?” Fuck you, Chuck thought.

“Yeah,” Bryan said. “Looks like you are.”

“Pretty much,” Chuck replied, and gave him his biggest smile as Raleigh paid. He blinked at Chuck for a moment and then used the hand, still on Chuck’s back, to guide him to the side to collect their concessions.

“Played lax with him,” Chuck said once they walked away. “He’s gonna love telling everyone I-”

“Oh,” Raleigh said. “I...sorry.”

“For what?” Chuck asked. “Hopefully a bunch of them will throw little hissy fits tonight, thinking about how I used to perv on them in high school.”

Raleigh grinned at this and then passed the soda over to Chuck. Raleigh immediately lifted up the armrest on the seat between them before they even sat down. Chuck grinned at this, and they set the popcorn between them until it was done. Then Chuck draped an arm over Raleigh and Raleigh curled his head into Chuck’s shoulder. “You have really good shoulders,” he murmured. “Broad.” It made Chuck blush, slightly, recalling their - whatever it was they had done - on Saturday. How Raleigh had narrated the whole damn thing. Fuck, how Yancy had probably heard the whole play-by-play.

Still, Raleigh fumbled a bit once they were in the car. “If it’s not too late, um, we could…”

“I’d like that,” Chuck said.

The apartment was dark when they got there. “No Yancy?” Chuck asked.

“Nope,” Raleigh replied, and there was something strange that passed across his face for a moment before he smiled at Chuck. “We could-”

Nope, nope, Chuck thought, he was going to take the bull by the horns, or whatever. He had done his research - completely painless, as it turned it, there were some really comprehensive visual guides out there.

He put both his hands on Raleigh’s hips and kissed him, hard, quickly thrusting his tongue inside and drifting a hand down to cup Raleigh’s ass. Raleigh moaned and turned his head slightly, so Chuck slid his mouth to his neck and then down to the collar of his sweater.

“We could bedroom,” Raleigh said.

“Mmm,” Chuck said, and he kissed right where Raleigh’s neck met his ear.

They undressed quickly this time, down to their boxer briefs, and Chuck straddled Raleigh on the bed and kissed down from his neck to his chest. “Chuck, I - ooh,” said Raleigh, as Chuck took his nipple into his mouth and teased the nub with his tongue. Thank you, Internet, Chuck thought. He teased the other as well and then drifted his mouth down the smooth, perfect expanse of Raleigh’s abs - and, seriously, how did he manage this definition?

“Chuck…” Raleigh murmured, and Chuck looked up. Please don’t, he thought. He wanted to do this, and...but Raleigh understood, or at least it seemed like he was attempting to communicate that to him. “Can I?”

“Yeah,” said Chuck. He let Raleigh roll him over, spread him out, lay him down flat and slide off his briefs - and he was smiling like an idiot, he realized, because Raleigh had understood and hadn’t asked and that could have been so fucking awkward.

Raleigh kissed down his stomach but then diverted his path to Chuck’s hips, licked down his deltoid and around his thigh. “Uh, you…”

“Tease?” Raleigh asked. He looked up at him and grinned, then traced his tongue back from Chuck’s inner thigh to his cock.

Raleigh licked from the base to the tip and Chuck shuddered at the warmth that filled his cock. Then he rested a hand on the base and slid his tongue over the tip before moving Chuck’s foreskin down and lightly tonguing at the tip. “That fucking tickles!” Chuck said, but in a good way, and he started squirming a little until Raleigh traced around the tip of his cock. “Ooh,” he said.

He’d got blowjobs before but this was something different. Soon Raleigh was inching his mouth down, tongue working the whole way. “Oh, god, Raleigh, that’s so amazing,” Chuck said. “It feels so good.” He put his hands in Raleigh’s hair, just too work through it - and it felt thick and nice in his fingers.

Raleigh sucked harder on his cock, pulled him down deeper and then removed his mouth entirely with a slight, obscene popping sound. “Raleigh-”

He hummed, putting his mouth back on Chuck, and worked his tongue over Chuck’s head again, seeking out all of the spots that made Chuck feel hard, tight, and he was going to come obscenely soon. “Raleigh, I don’t want to-”

“Ah,” Raleigh said, after dipping down and sucking on his cock again. “I want you to.” Goddamnit, Chuck thought, and Raleigh just enveloped him with his warm mouth, smooth lips, that swirling tongue. Chuck felt so fucking warm and needy and realized he was moaning as Raleigh twisted his tongue all over the head. Everytime he felt close and started to squirm Raleigh pulled back and slowed down, dragged him just away from the precipice.

“Raleigh…” Chuck groaned, “please…”

He felt Raleigh grin around him and then he quickened his pace but kept it smooth. His hand reached back and rolled Chuck’s balls, this slight, light touch, and Chuck felt like he was going to die. Then he did something - Chuck couldn’t even - with his tongue, and there it was. “I’m gonna...I’m gonna…” And then there it was, hard but sort of slow, lasting longer than Chuck had thought was possible. Raleigh swallowed him easily, too, and Chuck almost shivered all over and then opened his eyes.

Raleigh was smiling up at him, hair everywhere and mouth puffy and red. “Fuck,” Chuck said. “That was...so fucking good, I…”

Raleigh slowly moved up his body, kissing him slowly and carefully until he got to his mouth. The kiss was deep, hard, incredibly eager - and Chuck could taste himself on Raleigh and that was...incredibly hot.

He guided Raleigh to his back, still holding the kiss. All right, Hansen, he thought. You’ve got this. And besides - how hard can it be? You know what a good blow job feels like. He used his hands to guide Raleigh’s knees up and took a moment to just stare at and take in and - fuck, that was not an insubstantial cock, he thought.

He put his hand on the base of it and slid it up, first, and groaned at the size of it. “I, uh, that’s…” Raleigh murmured, as Chuck stroked his thumb at the tip. Then he held the base firm and then swirled his tongue around the tip.

Salty, he thought. And Raleigh seemed to like it, so Chuck experimented with his tongue, searching for the spots that were going to make Raleigh moan the loudest. He was babbling, too, “Yes, Chuck, your tongue is so good - can you…just slide it around, the head, like, yes, fuck, that’s amazing…” Chuck didn’t mind the direction, smiled slightly as he realized Raleigh was gripping the sheets and squirming a little bit.

Then he slid his mouth down, careful, feeling the weight of Raleigh’s dick in his mouth and...liking it, he liked that he was slowly pulling him undone. He went down as deep as he dared go and then pulled back up and away, licked up the underside of Raleigh’s shaft. “Chuck you are...that’s really great, that’s...uh, fuck, fuck!”

Chuck glanced up and met Raleigh’s eye and Raleigh’s mouth opened and he groaned. Chuck grinned at him and then took the tip down again, sucked. It felt so good to be able to do this, to have this kind of control.

“Fuck your mouth is so good, Chuck, it’s so...uh!” Chuck did like Raleigh had, grasping his balls lightly and rolling them as he moved up and down. He tried to replicate the swirling thing Raleigh had done and wasn’t sure if it was right, but Raleigh seemd to appreciate it. He pumped Raleigh’s shaft with his other hand as he moved up and down, curling his tongue at the tip as he did so, and then Raleigh’s hands were in his hair. “Chuck, I’m, Chuck…”

You can do this, Chuck thought, fuck, how hard could it be? So he kept moving, fast and light, using his tongue, and then he tasted something salty and it was filling his mouth and for a moment he thought he was going to drown. Raleigh’s hands were swirling in his hair and he finally swallowed, but there was more, and when his lips moved off some of it dribbled out of his mouth. He moved a hand to wipe it, but Raleigh reached up and grabbed his wrist.

“That’s so hot,” he said, almost a whisper, and Chuck would have never thought that Raleigh would like something like that, something kind of-

And then he proved he did, leaned up and grabbed Chuck and tugged him down into a kiss, taking down the come that was left on Chuck’s mouth. “Fuck,” Chuck said, and he was-

“Mmm, I know,” Raleigh murmured. Chuck wrapped his legs around him and sighed, then rolled over and smiled at Raleigh. “Fuck, I wish you could stay.”

“No reason I can’t,” Chuck replied.

“Weeelll…” Raleigh said. “Might be weird to drop you off at your house on my way to work and then have you drop Lucy off at-”

“Ah,” Chuck said. He nodded his head. “That is. Yes.”

“Friday,” Raleigh said.

“Mmm,” Chuck said, and kissed him again. “Yeah.”

* * *

“Chuck!” said Lucy when he picked her up - and every time he saw Raleigh, he just thought, yeah, I sucked his cock, and had to keep his smirk down. “We have an assignment!”

“Like homework?” he asked.

“Yes,” said Lucy. “We have to do it at home.” She smiled at him and so Chuck nodded his head. “We have to ask questions.”

“Oh, like an interview?” Chuck asked. Lucy nodded her head. She was clearly pleased with this idea. “What kind of questions?” It was getting easier, he realized. She actually had things to say if you figured out how to get them out of her.

“We are supposed to ask about what they like to do best and then we are going to illustrate it,” Lucy said. “So I am going to ask you.”

“Oh,” Chuck said, and he picked her up to help get her into her car seat. “That’s really - that’s really sweet, Lucy.”

“So,” Lucy said, once he got into the front seat.

“So what?”

“The answer to the question,” Lucy said. “About what you like to do best?”

Mr. Becket, Chuck thought. “Play with Max,” he said, figuring that would be something that Lucy would have an easy time drawing.

“Second best?” she asked.

“Uh, play lacrosse.” Chuck said.

“But you don’t do that anymore,” Lucy said.

Right, Chuck thought. Preschool wisdom. “Um, work out,” he said, because he had, at least, started using Herc and Stacker’s little basement set-up and joined the largest facility in town.

“I think I’m gonna draw Max,” Lucy said.

“Definitely,” Chuck said. “I can’t wait to see it.”


	10. Chapter 10

Chuck wasn’t sure what to expect from an interview with Sasha. The office was surprising - the second floor of an old, converted warehouse with a completely open space aside from her office and an adjacent conference room. All of the employees were bustling around, talking to one another, while Yancy sat at a massive desk in front of Sasha’s office. “Can I get you anything?” he asked, and Chuck marveled at the impeccable suit he was wearing, complete with matching tie and pocket square. “Coffee, tea, sparkling water?”

“Water would be good,” Chuck said, and he glanced down at himself - Herc and Stacker had got him the suit for graduation, and he had thought he looked pretty smart with his brogues and the floral printed tie that he had purchased in an effort to seem fashion forward.

Mako had been little help in the matter, standing alongside of him as he held up a variety of options for her to evaluate at Macy’s. _I suppose it should be something colorful,_ she said. _Perhaps the one with ducks._ That was the thing with Mako - you could never tell if she was trolling or not.

“Great tie,” Yancy said, giving him that toothy grin as he handed him a glass filled with sparkling water.

Sasha strode out of the office then, wearing a black shift and heels that made her a good four inches taller than Chuck. “So glad you could come,” she said. Her grip was incredibly strong. “Come, sit, tell me about this lacrosse that you played.” She sat down in the couch in her office and beckoned for him to take a seat in the adjacent chair.

She didn’t ask any practical questions until she pulled out a sheet with a variety of ingredients listed on it about fifteen minutes after they had started talking. “This is what Newton wants to put in the BB Cream,” she said. “What do you think?”

Chuck inhaled, glad he had spent the past few days reading everything he could on advancements in plant use in makeup and cosmetics - even if it riddled his browser history with stuff that made him look like the gayest person ever.

He talked - about the benefits of tea tree oil and aloe, how sensitive skin differed from oily skin, how the Korean BB Creams had advantages over the American ones for certain reasons, how some things were just buzzwords and some things had benefit.

“So, what do you think? We use all natural, all organic?”

“Well, uh,” Chuck said, “there are a lot of indie brands that have been successful with that approach and then you’ve got major competitors in, uh, Sephora, like Korres and Tarte, but-” He stopped because she was grinning at him.

“Excellent,” she said. “What do you think, for salary?”

“Um,” Chuck said. “Honestly, this is a really great opportunity and-” She stated a number and he did his best not to open his mouth and let his jaw hang down. There was no way he was worth that much.

“Though I try to give out benefits, rather than money - get so many free products, free samples, gift bags when you attend all of the fashion events, random shit so someone can say makeup mogul Sasha Kaidanovsky uses this. And I give you phone. Very good phone.”

“That sounds great,” said Chuck.

“Good, see Yancy, he will give you paperwork - you can come in when?”

“I would have to check with my current, uh, employers,” Chuck said. “I would presume they’d want a weeks notice, at least.” She waved her hand.

“E-mail Yancy. I will need some notice so we can bring in Newton. Always exciting day when he turns up.” She grinned at him again.

“Welcome aboard,” said Yancy, when he exited. “Good to have three dicks aboard. We’re creeping up on them.”

“Right,” said Chuck. “Yes. Um. Do you wear a suit every day?”

Yancy inclined his head over to the four women that Chuck had met on the ropes course, all of whom were in what Chuck supposed were fashionable but casual clothes. Then he smile at Chuck.

“Right,” Chuck said. “Great. Thanks.”

* * *

“So, I think a celebration is in order!” Herc said, when Chuck told him the news. “We can call a sitter, invite your boyfriend out-”

“I don’t know - I mean, I don’t think-” Chuck said. Herc narrowed his eyes at him.

“You slept over at his house,” he said.

“Uh, well-”

“Haven’t you heard about these kids, hook ups and what does hooking up even mean, anyway?” Stacker asked.

“Generally it is usually one step less than the furthest step a person has taken with anyone, sexually,” Mako offered, looking up from the glass of wine she had poured herself. “So, if someone has only made out with someone-”

“And what is making out, any way?” Stacker demanded.

“All I’ve ever done,” Chuck supplied. Stacker narrowed his eyes at him and then grinned.

“I’ll call Emma, see if she can head over on short notice,” Herc said. “You, call your boyfriend.”

“Boyfriend?” All four of them turned to see Lucy in the kitchen door - she had previously been occupied with playing with Max in the adjacent family room, constructing cities out of building blocks and then encouraging Max to go on a kaiju style rampage through them. “You have a boyfriend, Chuck?”

“Uh,” Chuck said.

“He does,” said Herc. “Isn’t that nice for Chuck?”

“Won’t Max be jealous?” Lucy asked.

Thank God, Chuck thought, he had been thinking about how none of them were going to be able to hold a straight face if Lucy asked if she could meet him. Don’t need to, already have!

“Very,” said Chuck. “But he’ll learn to share, I think.”

“He could sleep with me and Ms. Doge,” said Lucy. Max poked his head around the corner and looked up at Chuck like he was abandoning him.

“He could,” Chuck said, remembering that Max had done so when Chuck was away at school.

“It’s nice that someone else likes you, though,” Lucy said. Stacker laughed - this big, hearty sound that showed he was way too amused by the comment. Herc and Chuck both smiled at him, and Chuck just knew Herc was thinking the same thing. Stacker was not going to like it when that kind of sass got turned on him.

“Emma has texted back and is happy to watch Lucy and Max and tonight,” Mako replied.

“Oh,” said Stacker. “That was...efficient.”

“Reason you get a babysitter who is real focused on good grades and mock trial,” Herc said, to no one in particular. “Call your damn boyfriend, Chuck.”

“I’m not going on a date with my dads,” Chuck said. Herc smiled - he always did when Chuck used the plural form of dad.

“Just come and get a drink,” Herc said. “One drink, then we’ll let you be.”

Chuck sighed and texted Raleigh, who responded almost instantly. _hot dads are kinda scary but I am happy to come out! u will come over after?_

 _definitely,_ Chuck replied. _also your brother is more frightening_

 _debatable_ Raleigh replied. Then another text came through, _want to see?_

* * *

“Raleigh, this is Mako, my stepsister,” said Chuck. “Mako, this is-” Raleigh looked over at Chuck when he stopped and then looked at Mako before he extended his hand.

“Raleigh Becket,” he said. “I’m, uh-”

Chuck caught Herc rolling his eyes.

“I have heard very much about you,” Mako said, saving both of them. “It is a pleasure.”

Raleigh scratched at the back of his neck. “All good, I hope.”

“Lucy is incredibly enthralled,” Mako said. “And Chuck does not appear to be immune to your charms.”

“Aw,” said Raleigh, and he smiled at Stacker and Mako - though Chuck could see that he was doing the calculus that everyone else did, when they met them. Fair enough. Wasn’t all the time you saw a black English dude with a daughter who had clearly grown up for some time in Japan based on her accent. “Oh, hope you don’t mind, but Yancy was moping, so I brought him along.” Stacker grinned at this announcement.

Fucking hell, thought Chuck. Yancy turned from the bar at that very moment with two pitchers of beer in his hands. “Everyone drinks beer?” he asked.

“I would prefer to stick to wine,” said Mako, “but I will go and get my own glass.”

“Good to see you again,” Stacker said to Yancy, and his smile was genuine.

“And I wasn’t moping-”

“His date cancelled on him,” said Raleigh.

“She had to take her dog to the emergency vet,” Yancy said.

“In Australia,” said Herc, “Generally that means she’s not interested in you. Letting you down easy like.”

“Well,” said Yancy. “This is America, so.”

“I think it means the same thing,” Chuck said. “As someone who speaks both ‘Murican and 'Stralian.”

“I haven’t sent your employment contract over to the lawyer yet,” Yancy replied.

“Duly noted,” Chuck said, and was relieved when Mako returned with not only a glass of wine but some free popcorn from the bar - Herc always insisted on coming here, because he liked the strange, stale taste of the popcorn.

“Thank you, Mako,” Herc said, and he immediately popped several pieces into his mouth.

“So Chuck’s going to be working with you?” Stacker asked Yancy.

“Well, not directly,” said Yancy. “I’m Sasha’s personal assistant - he’ll be acting more as a liaison between our new chemists department and the...well, everyone else. But I just manage schedules and-”

“Oh, no, I’ve seen the _Devil Wears Prada,_ ” Stacker said. Chuck shook his head at him and took a very long sip of his beer. After all - he had only signed up for one drink.

“Yancy still hasn’t been invited to Paris for Fashion Week, though,” said Raleigh.

“You’ve watched it?” Chuck asked.

“Meryl Streep, dude,” said Raleigh. He leaned in and smiled at Chuck, then pulled back when he saw Herc looking at them.

“It’s all right, though, doubt anyone going to Paris could have conquered that ropes course like you did,” Stacker said.

“Oh, well,” said Yancy. “Mostly a function of just paying attention when each element was explained.”

“You are such an asshole,” said Raleigh, and he shook his head. “Told you that yoga would pay off.”

“Yoga?” asked Stacker.

* * *

  
“I feel like that might have been a poor choice,” Raleigh said, as they drove back to his apartment.

“You’ve forged an unholy alliance,” Chuck agreed.

“Me?” Raleigh said. “You were the one who said he should come along - you’re just as responsible.”

“Uh, and we left them with Mako, too,” said Chuck. “They’ll have plans for world domination by the third beer.”

“Mmm,” Raleigh said, and then he seemed to be biting at his lip. “You know, I think, um, I come out for drinks with your dads, you could say I was your, uh…”

“Oh,” Chuck said. “I just didn’t want to, um, presume.”

“Yeah,” Raleigh said. “I figured. So I just - you know. Would let you know.” He reached over and grasped Chuck’s hand and squeezed it. Chuck squeezed back just as Raleigh pulled into the parking lot of the apartment complex. “We should order something for dinner?”

“Sure,” Chuck said.

“We have a good Thai place?” Raleigh said.

Chuck nodded his head - it was strange, he hadn’t imagined that this was what being in a relationship would be like. It was nice. Easy.

Or maybe that was Raleigh.

* * *

“Hey.” Chuck opened one eye slowly. He had hoped that Raleigh’s boisterous morning attitude the last time he had slept over had been some kind of fluke - he was just that excited to wake up with Chuck in his bed - but it appeared that Raleigh was actually a morning person.

He appeared completely coherent, and Chuck knew that only two minutes ago he had been completely asleep because Chuck had rolled over and curled into him and he was still sort of snoring. “Heey,” Chuck managed. He opened his other eye as Raleigh leaned down and kissed his mouth, gentle, and then slowly kissed down his neck. “That is such a good way to wake up…”

‘Mmm,” Raleigh murmured. “Just that? That’s sufficient?”

“Not going to argue if you think I could be more awake,” Chuck murmured. Raleigh kissed down his body, slow and appreciative, and made Chuck groan when he straddled over top of him and aligned their cocks. He brought them both to climax mercifully soon this time, especially after the world’s most drawn out blow job last night - though it did culminate in the world’s most intense orgasm. Chuck was afraid that he hadn’t been able to provide the same experience for Raleigh, but he had appeared very pleased by the result, so.

“We should shower,” Raleigh said.

“Brother?” Chuck asked.

“He won’t be conscious until eleven,” Raleigh replied. “You could send a marching band through the house, trust me.”

The shower was perhaps a little too small for both of them, but Chuck didn’t mind - he was never going to object to the opportunity to be that close to Raleigh, especially dripping wet. He kissed at Raleigh’s neck and then massaged his chest as Raleigh rinsed the conditioner out of his hair. He groaned as Raleigh worked some sort of body wash over him - it smelled fresh and sort of minty. “They sent, like, boxes of this shit to Sasha for inclusion in one of her monthly boxes,” Raleigh said. “Then realized it was their old logo, so they sent her all of these other boxes, so...we’ve got enough to last us for at least five years,” Raleigh said. Chuck just shook his head.

Raleigh stepped out first and Chuck took the opportunity to admire his body as water dripped down it - smooth, perfect, and definitely making Chuck consider adding yoga to his routine. And whatever the hell else it was Raleigh did. “That’s not just yoga, oi?” he asked.

“Oh,” Raleigh said, and he turned and glanced down himself, as though surprised that his physique was worth noticing. “Um, running, basketball with the Weis - they’re surprising good, those little fuckers - and lifting. Cross country skiing in the winter.”

“Huh,” Chuck said, and then smiled.

“I mean, I would recommend yoga - but, uh, more for the flexibility,” Raleigh said, and then gave Chuck a grin that was a cross between completely salacious and that little puppy dog expression he had.

“Yeah,” Chuck said. “That. Yeah.”

Chuck did his best to assist with breakfast the next morning, but Raleigh ended up shooing him out of the kitchen and over to the chair on the island as he made French Toast and bacon. “I’ve got it under control,” Raleigh said.

“It’s for the best,” said Chuck. “I was raised by Herc, and then Herc and Stacker, and they thought it was acceptable to live off these MRE’s Stacker bought in bulk over EBay.”

“You can buy those on EBay?” Raleigh asked. He shook his head, then, and went back to breakfast.

“This is so good,” Chuck said, after taking two full bites from the plate of French Toast in front of him with powdered sugar and maple syrup. “Really good.”

“Oh, well, thanks,” said Raleigh. “I like…well. It’s always nice to make things for people and have them like them.” Chuck nodded his head. “Are you thinking of that picture that Lucy drew of you and Max?”

“Yeah,” Chuck said, and he grinned. Accompanying her interview with Chuck about his favorite things, Lucy had drawn a picture of Chuck and Max in a convertible - presumably - which seemed to somehow involve her interpretation of what working out meant.

“I can see why Max inspires so much adoration,” Raleigh said. Chuck nodded his head and ate another huge bite of french toast.

“Where’d you learn to cook, anyway?” Chuck asked.

“Oh,” Raleigh said. “Yancy and I sort of...had to fend for ourselves, for awhile, so I sort of took up cooking because he was working, so.”

“Dutiful little housewife, oi?” Chuck asked.

He had meant it as an off-handed comment, but something darkened in Raleigh’s expression for a moment. “Just because I cooked?”

“No, just…” Chuck wasn’t entirely sure how to recover because he didn’t know what it was that had set Raleigh off - maybe something to do with what it was that led him and Yancy to have to fend for themselves. Maybe something else. And he certainly wasn’t going to make it worse by sticking his foot even deeper into his mouth.

“I was younger,” Raleigh said, his expression more neutral - but still thoughtful. “Still in highschool, so - and it wasn’t like I was particularly dutiful.”

“Didn’t put your hair in perfect curlers at night?”

“You know,” Raleigh said, glancing down at his plate, “I know you’re just trying to be funny, but...it could definitely be taken the wrong way, you know? Like, I didn’t cook because I was gay, or-”

“I didn’t mean-”

“No, not explicitly,” Raleigh said, and then waved his hand when Chuck opened his mouth again. Chuck sighed and waited, but Raleigh didn’t say anything.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

Raleigh looked up and gave him a wide, broad smile that seemed genuine. “It’s OK,” Raleigh said. He reached over and squeezed Chuck’s hand again. “I really, uh, like you, Chuck.”

“I do too,” Chuck said. They met each other’s eyes and then both looked away. “That was like a bad romantic comedy,” he said.

“Oh?” Raleigh asked. “Yeah, probably - though if it were a bad romantic comedy a minor disagreement would have turned into a major misunderstanding where we refused to communicate with one another and then you or I saw the other out and thought they were dating the person that we saw them with, leading to another misunderstanding and argument which was eventually fixed with some neat deux ex machina tied into the plot at the end of the movie. With a kiss.”

“Yes,” Chuck said - he wouldn’t exactly categorize what had happened as a minor disagreement, but then again, he was not going to push and interrogate it. That way lay madness. “That is a very accurate analysis - I have, uh, watched a lot with Mako. And Stacker. But that’s not something that is supposed to leave the confines of our house, I don’t think, so, if you reveal it, he’ll probably kill you and me.”

“I will keep that in mind,” Raleigh said, and his smile broadened.


	11. Chapter 11

Even though he apologized and even though Raleigh had seen mollified - fuck, the kiss goodbye and the _Maybe I could see you tomorrow?_ definitely proved it - the whole thing from that morning kept nagging at Chuck.

He took Max outside and threw the ball for him - so what if he had made some joke? He was fucking Raleigh, it wasn’t like he was… He looked down at Max, who wiggled his tail at him while Chuck held the ball. It had to be so fucking easy to be Max. Everything was awesome, except when he was kind of hungry or kind of had to pee. Or Lucy tried to dress him up in her play outfits.

Chuck took the ball and started whacking it against the house for the game that Max really liked. He would jump and try to catch it, but he was never able to get quite as aerial as he needed. Mostly he just kind of ran in circle as Chuck tossed the ball and caught it.

“Oi, the fuck is wrong?” Herc asked, poking his head out of the porch door.

“Nothing,” Chuck said. Herc shook his head at him and emerged with four beers in hand. He nodded over at the large couch out on the deck. Chuck sighed. Herc always seemed to think he needed to make up for the decade or so when he had been a shit dad - father son trips, chats, making sure to go to all of Chuck’s lacrosse games.

Herc handed him a beer. Chuck accepted it and opened it and then scooped Max up so he could sit between them.

They sat for a long while, silent through most of the first beer, before Chuck began to talk. Herc wasn’t going to just let him go. “All I did was make this comment, like, about…” he said, and explained it, “and he gets this look on his face, and I said something else about, you know, wearing curlers or whatever like a dutiful housewife and-”

“Oh, Chuck,” said Herc.

“What?” Chuck asked.

Herc pat Max’s head and carefully stroked his ears as he used his other hand to sip his beer. “Look, you know, after your mum…” He paused, and Chuck felt the urge to say something, but then Herc just nodded his head. “Was real young when I met her and so I never really thought about how, ah, wasn’t just-”

“Oh God,” said Chuck.

“Anyway, when I met Stacker...there was a lot of stuff to think about, you know?”

“Dad-” Chuck began, because he _knew_ and Herc knew he knew and this was probably going to be worse than the time Herc decided he needed to teach Chuck to put on condoms.

“So, I thought it through. Uh. Obviously. But maybe you should think about it, too - I know, um, being on the team...not wanting to…” Herc waved his hand. “I understand that, being in the military. Hearing the way some of those boys talked.” He pressed his lips together.

Chuck squirmed and reached for Max, who just looked up at him with big, moony eyes. Max had no clue what was going on - Max should be helpful, and create a distraction. Poop right then and there.

“One thing I learned, though,” Herc said. “There’s no one way to be gay - just means you like another bloke, is all, and the rest is yourself. Shouldn’t hate yourself for who you like.”

“I don’t hate-” Herc actually reached over and pet him like he might pet Max.

“Chuck. I’ve heard more than just one observation come out of your mouth-”

Chuck glanced down and looked at his hands. He sighed. “I know.”

* * *

This obviously called for some kind of thoughtful gesture to show that Chuck understood and had matured. Which meant that Chuck was fucked.

Rather than just ruin things by jumping into it and making a poor choice he decided to give himself time to think about how to resolve things. Sunday also turned out to be a really nice day, so he packed up some snacks and squeaky toys and he and Raleigh took Max to the dog park, where Max met a nice lady friend.

“Hey!” said the dog’s owner, stomping towards the table they were sitting on, “is that your dog on my dog!”

Chuck looked up and pressed his lips together. “Um. Yeah.” Way to go, Max, he thought.

“Are you going to do something about it?”

“Is she fixed?” Chuck asked. Max didn’t seem to actually be fucking her, anyway, just sort of showing her that he liked her.

“Yes, but-”

“Aw, Max,” said Raleigh. He stood up and walked over and gently picked him up off of the other dog - who didn’t seem too put out by the whole thing. “Do you have a girlfriend now?” A few other people applauded.

“Why isn’t your dog fixed?” the woman asked.

“I am not cutting off my dog’s bollocks,” Chuck replied. He crossed his arms, too, which emphasized how broad his shoulders were.

“Then you should keep him on a shorter leash,” the woman said.

Max looked up at both of them, forlorn, and Chuck pulled out a dog treat and pat him on the head. “I feel you, mate,” he said. The woman rolled her eyes at them - clearly, they’d been judged hopeless - and then walked off to go and tend to her dog.

“What, you’ve just gone up to someone and started humping them to show you like them?” Raleigh asked. “If so, I feel a bit-”

Chuck leaned over and kissed him, hard, and put a hand on his jaw to steady him since he hadn’t expected it. “You want me to?”

Raleigh turned slightly red and smiled at him, ducking his head to highlight his long eyelashes. “Uh. I think I’m a bit more private than-”

“Also, don’t want to give him any ideas,” Chuck said, taking his hand from Raleigh’s face and rubbing Max’s head. “Poor little fucker doesn’t seem to have caught onto the concept, there.”

“C’mere, Max, get the ball,” Raleigh said - and Max forgot about his blue balls and happily glomped off after the tennis ball that Raleigh threw. “Look at you! You are majestic! Oh, such beast!” Raleigh said, rubbing his face vigorously when he returned.

Chuck just smiled and finished his sandwich. Raleigh looked really good with Max in his lap, finally, finally wearing a t-shirt, the sun catching his hair and everything just…

Do not fuck this up, Hansen, he told himself. Just do not fuck this up.

They dropped Max off at home and went back to Raleigh’s - and, it occurred to Chuck, with what Sasha was paying him he could, and should, probably look into getting a place for himself and Max. Though it would probably kill Lucy. He’d have to get a puppy, too, just sort of leave it in his room and peace out before Stacker had the chance to yell at him about it.

Chuck debated sort of humping Raleigh when they got in the door but decided that the joke might have passed. Instead, he gave him a hard, deep kiss and plied his lips open slowly as they made their way to Raleigh’s inside.

“I wanted to make you dinner, actually,” Raleigh murmured. Chuck pouted and Raleigh grinned at him. “I thought you could help?”

“All right,” Chuck said, and Raleigh got him chopping onions and peppers, crushing garlic, and cutting up potatoes for some stuffed pork chop and bacon potato thing he had a recipe for.

Chuck wrapped his arms around Raleigh after he put it all in the oven and kissed his neck. “How long?” he asked.

Raleigh smacked at him a little bit. “Fuck off, Chuck, fifteen minutes-”

“We can - don’t look at me like that, we’re young and potent and-”

“Fuck, you are ridiculous,” Raleigh said, but he arched his back so that his ass rubbed against Chuck’s cock just so. “And I think the word you’re looking for is virile. Honestly, Chuck.” He turned and gave him a disapproving look.

“Let me set the table?” Chuck said. Raleigh smiled and nodded at him.

The pork chops were amazing, perfectly cooked, and Chuck decided that all potatoes should be cooked with bacon in them. He ate slowly, aware of the fact that Raleigh was watching him - he hoped he didn’t have some weird kind of kink and rather just enjoyed Chuck enjoying things.

“Let’s put a movie in, yeah?” Raleigh asked, setting the dishes into the sink. “Digest.” He seemed a little nervous about something, so Chuck went along with it, letting Raleigh curl into him on the couch. Chuck hoped it wasn’t - but you wouldn’t invite someone over, make them dinner, and then break-up with them, right? And he couldn’t be pregnant, so...whatever it was, Chuck told himself, things would be OK.

Chuck stroked Raleigh’s hair when he shifted into Chuck’s shoulder. They were only five minutes into the movie and Raleigh made this endearing, soft sound that made Chuck want to tear him apart-

“Hey, kids! Do I need to put a plastic barrier down on that couch?” Yancy asked. Raleigh rolled his eyes. “Ooh, what are you watching?”

“The Hunger Games,” Raleigh said.

“Riight,” said Yancy. “Is that the pork and bacon potatoes? Leftovers?” He grinned at Chuck as he opened the fridge, then pulled three beers out and handed them out. “So this is the one where all the kids kill each other?”

Yancy sprawled out in the chair once his leftovers heated up, eating carefully and then slouching a bit when he was done. Raleigh didn’t seem fussed by his presence, eventually laying down and putting his head in Chuck’s lap. Or maybe he was trying to make a point. Chuck didn’t care.

Also, he was provided with a good opportunity to determine if Yancy had actual feelings by one particular moment in the movie. He didn’t know whether he should be relieved or not to see a few slow tears trailing down Yancy’s face.

When the movie was over, Raleigh kicked at Yancy, though he didn’t quite reach him. “Chuck?”

“Yeah?” Chuck said, and Raleigh just grinned at him.

“Chuck’s sleeping over, since tomorrow is a holiday,” Raleigh said. Chuck was not aware of this, but he did not mind. “You mind doing the dishes?”

“Not at all,” said Yancy, then glanced back and only seemed to then realize they had utterly destroyed the kitchen. “Possibly tomorrow.”

“Whatever,” Raleigh said, and he stretched and stood up. Chuck followed him to his bedroom.

Chuck kissed Raleigh, hungry for him, as soon as they got in the door. Raleigh was grinning into the kiss but he took Chuck’s hand and slowed its descent down to Raleigh’s cock. “See, if you had just, earlier, given in-” Chuck began.

Raleigh sighed. “I want to to take my time and fuck you right, not just rub off-”

“Oh?” Chuck asked, and he did his best to swallow - and, really, Hansen? he thought. He’d been preparing for this moment, thinking about it, thinking about what he was going to do with Raleigh. This had to be why Raleigh was nervous earlier, and Chuck smiled at him - he had planned this whole nice evening.

“If you want?” Raleigh said, and he looked up at Chuck and gave him a small, almost tentative smile.

“Yeah, fuck, I mean, of course,” Chuck said, and he kissed Raleigh hard again. “You’re so…” He made a soft sound into Raleigh’s neck and helped him tug his t-shirt off.

They undressed each other slowly, traced their hands over each other, kissed as they lay on their sides on the bed. Chuck couldn’t help but run his fingers through Raleigh’s thick hair, and Raleigh kept smiling at him and twined his fingers in Chuck’s as he kissed at his neck.

They were both stalling, Chuck realized, it was like the first time except without all of the awkward parts. “Raleigh-” he said, and he rolled Raleigh over onto his back and straddled him, getting some friction for both their cocks. Chuck groaned. “Um, how do you, uh...should we…”

“Mmm, I’m open to anything…” Raleigh said, hips working back against Chuck’s. His smile was slow and easy and then he pulled back so he could get his hand on Chuck’s cock and play with his foreskin. “What have you thought about, Chuck?”

Chuck hadn’t expected this, and he should have. It wasn’t like Raleigh was pushy in bed, he seemed to always do what Chuck wanted, wanted to please him. And Chuck also should have considered this based on his conversation with Herc because his first inclination was to tell Raleigh that he was going to mount Raleigh and fuck his brains out. Except, he realized, as he opened his mouth, that this perhaps sent the message that he presumed he was natural top, that Raleigh was submissive, that he thought Raleigh was the girl in their relationship.

“Um…” he said, instead. Raleigh twisted his hand and Chuck moaned. He leaned up so he could get on his elbows, get a better look at Raleigh to see his reaction.  
“Well, uh, I’ve thought about..” He kissed his neck. “About fucking.” He waved his hand a little bit.

Fuck, he thought. There was no way for this to go well.

Raleigh blinked up at him and there was some kind of realization that crossed his eyes. No, stop, he told himself, because Raleigh was still stroking his cock and so they were still a go, and he shouldn’t be spending this time over analyzing things.  
It was just that someone needed to do something, and, as interesting as Chuck had found many of the videos he watched, they hadn’t been particularly instructional on how to get things started so he was a little confused about - he pulled himself up onto his elbows, to try and reach Raleigh for a kiss.

It happened quickly, so Chuck didn’t really have a lot of time to process it. Raleigh wrapped his legs around Chuck and tightened them and then executed a quick roll, pinning Chuck down underneath him. He grabbed both Chuck’s wrists as he rocked his hips into him and there was the distinct sensation of his cock near Chuck’s hole. He squeezed him tight with his legs, and Chuck couldn’t move, and it seemed like all he could feel was the hint of Raleigh’s cock against him.

“Thought what, Chuck?” he asked, nipping down to suck a little bit at his ear. Raleigh’s cockrubbed against Chuck’s and he realized that Raleigh was objectively bigger than him, that Raleigh was holding him tight, that he couldn’t really move-

He moaned.

It was an obscenely loud moan. He knew this because of the way that Raleigh’s breath sort of hitched and he loosened the pressure on Chuck for just a moment. It was probably the loudest moan that Chuck had ever made. It was a huge, embarrassing moan and as Raleigh moved against him he felt his cock twitch.

“Chuck…” Raleigh murmured into his ear. “Um, Chuck?”

“Raleigh?” Chuck asked, and Raleigh rocked into him a little harder and Chuck moaned again.

“Do you want me-”

“Just do this. More this,” Chuck said, his throat suddenly a bit scratchy as Raleigh flicked his hips a little quicker over Chuck. He could almost feel it - what Raleigh would feel like inside of him, holding him like this.

“You want-”

“Fuck, yes, Raleigh-”

Raleigh rolled back and Chuck heard the familiar click of lube. He leaned over and kissed Chuck, hard, and then his one hand was tweaking Chuck’s nipple while the other, slick, grasped his cock.

“Fuck, Raleigh, I-” It felt so good, and Chuck was surprised, felt himself almost relax even though he really didn’t think that he wanted - but the way Raleigh had held him down, looked at him...he shivered.

“God, your ass, Chuck,” said Raleigh, and his clean hand trailed down the crease of Chuck’s ass and then he replaced the hand with the one that had been slicked. Raleigh traced into the center of him. “I’m going to start, OK? Nice and slow…”

“OK,” Chuck said. Raleigh’s finger circled and then pressed in. Chuck closed his eyes. He felt like he had a finger up his ass, which wasn’t exactly the greatest feeling in the world and reminded him a little bit too much of the dreaded lacrosse physical. As Raleigh slipped in further another part of his brain decided that he really shouldn’t have ceded his position so easily - you’re the type how just rolls over and gets fucked, Hansen?

“Chuck?”

“It’s just...weird,” Chuck said. He was also the type who finished what he started, so he wasn’t about to back out. And he could at least say he tried.

“Yeah, I know,” Raleigh murmured, and his other hand began to gently stroke Chuck’s cock. He slid his finger all the way in and Chuck added uncomfortable and full to his list of adjectives. How the hell was he going to manage Raleigh’s cock? “Relax, hey, Chuck…”

Raleigh removed his finger slid down, then, and Chuck was about to protest - they were fucking doing this - and then his mouth was on Chuck’s cock. “Oh, fuuck,” Chuck said, because Raleigh was doing that thing with his tongue along with toying with Chuck’s foreskin, and he felt the beginnings of that deep, warm feeling in his cock. Raleigh slid his finger back in and it was better. “That’s so good, Raleigh…”

“Mmm,” Raleigh hummed, and then his thumb grazed Chuck’s balls and massaged and-

“Oh, oh, fuck!” Chuck said, because Raleigh was thumbing his prostate from the outside and just touching it inside and he felt long, crackling waves head towards his spine.

“There we go,” Raleigh said. “That’s so good, Chuck, you want another?” Chuck nodded, and Raleigh’s mouth was back on his cock as he began to separate the two fingers inside Chuck - and the sensation gradually transitioned from sort of painful and weird to not entirely unpleasant to sort of good.

Then Raleigh curled his fingers and Chuck felt himself clench, because fucking hell, there was a current that went straight to the tip of his cock. “That’s it, Chuck, you want me to-”

“Fuck, yes,” Chuck said, and Raleigh curled his fingers again and then sat up a bit more. He guided Chuck’s legs up and around him, still stroking him inside. He started twisting his fingers and Chuck bit slightly at his lower lip, swallowed hard. “Raleigh, I’m-”

“I don’t want to hurt-”

“Not gonna get any more relaxed, mate,” Chuck murmured, hoped it didn’t sound bad, and was relieved when Raleigh gave him a nod and a smile.

Chuck watched as he put the condom on, eyes mostly on Raleigh’s long, thick cock, the soft blonde hair around it that Chuck liked to twist his fingers in, the planes and dips of the muscles around his hips and abs. Chuck began to roll and Raleigh reached and grabbed his hip.

“No, I want to see,” he said. His voice was surprisingly deep and husky. Chuck just nodded.

He slid his cock through Chuck’s crease. Chuck craned his neck so he could watch as Raleigh grasped the end of his shaft and guided it towards Chuck. Another hand held the outside of his knee.

The first press hurt, and Chuck hissed. “Fuck, you are gorgeous, Chuck,” Raleigh said, and he used his hands to guide Chuck’s legs up and around his waist. It pressed him in a bit further, deeper, and-

Chuck knew that it didn’t typically happen like this, that there was normally some lengthy period of adjustment and finding the right position, that it was supposed to hurt if you weren’t completely relaxed. That he was supposed to be uncomfortable but manage it.

But somehow, Raleigh - maybe he was just that good at sex? - slid into Chuck and it felt amazing, even though he wasn’t even on his prostate. He was full, Raleigh was over him, hands grasping him, taking Chuck, fucking claiming him with his cock-

“Oh, fuck, fuck, Raleigh, more-” Raleigh’s eyes were hooded and he had a slight sheen to him, he looked amazing.

“Chuck, you-” But then Raleigh met his eyes and must have been able to see it because he grinned, and it was wicked. “You are so fucking tight, Chuck, you have no idea. Taking my cock like that.”

“Raleigh-” He wasn’t even fully in.

“Chuck, I’m gonna fill you up-” Raleigh said, and then there he was, as deep in Chuck as he was going to get that evening. Chuck knew he wasn’t ever going to be able to adequately articulate how good it felt, even if it also hurt. The hurt felt good. “Nice and slow, I want you to feel every inch…”

Raleigh’s strokes were long and smooth and he stroked the sides of Chuck’s thigh as he moved in and out of him. “It feels so good, Raleigh, I-” A cognizant part of his brain started to remind him about what this meant, him liking this, but Chuck shoved it aside. He was totally on board. I, Chuck Hansen, like getting dicked. “Raleigh, I thought - it just feels so good…fuck, more, I want-”

“We’re just that good together,” Raleigh said, and he fucking beamed. “You want more, Chuck?” Chuck nodded. Raleigh pulled almost all the way out and then plunged in, and after a few minutes - maybe, it was hard to keep track of time when every part of him was humming, even with Raleigh narrating - he slid against-

“Fuck, yes, there!” Chuck said. Raleigh shifted, slightly, and the next stroke was an even closer hit and Chuck felt a little bit like he was going to die inside. “Ohmygod.”

“There, Chuck, you want it there? I’m gonna really fuck you, now, make you feel it…” Raleigh said. Chuck moaned, because he made good on it, his dick felt huge inside Chuck and was quickly pulling him apart with each hit to his prostate. “So tight around me, taking my cock…”

“Raleigh!”

“Fuck, say that again.”

“Raleigh, fuck, ohmygod!” A moment of coherence struck him - this was a lot dirtier than he would have thought sex between them would be. But then he remembered Raleigh licking that come from his mouth, and- “Raleigh, more, I want-”

Raleigh thrust deep into him, then bent him back a little further and hit his prostate dead on and Chuck just blanked for a moment. “Touch yourself,” Raleigh said.

“Oh, fuck,” Chuck murmured, moaned at the next hard, deep stroke, and then took his cock in his hands. He sort of fumbled with it, overwhelmed.

“You like getting fucked?” Raleigh asked. Chuck made a moaning sort of choking sound and managed to establish some semblance of rhythm with his own cock.

“Yeah, Raleigh, this feels so good, it feels-”

“You’re so tight, Chuck, you feel so - I think, I’m going to-”

Both of them just moaned through the finish, Chuck spurting over his stomach and hand as Raleigh fucked him through it and over it, and Chuck had no idea sex could feel good after you came. His orgasm was hard and long and stretched out because of Raleigh’s dick in him, he felt it in the tips of all his nerves and his entire body bucked into it. Then it was over and Raleigh was still inside of him and he moaned until Raleigh came.

Raleigh sort of fell over Chuck, then, and slipped his cock out. He took the condom and tossed it aside, then pulled Chuck’s legs down and snuggled right over top of him.

Chuck felt boneless, shaky, was still seeing things in the periphery of his vision. “Um, Chuck?” Raleigh managed, and he turned Chuck onto his side. He reached and cupped Chuck’s ass, massaged it. Chuck sighed, content.

“Mmm?”

“So, actually, usually...um, I do that?”

“Oh,” Chuck said. “Well I couldn’t tell-”

“So next time if you don’t mind?”

“Mmm, yeah, definitely, check plus, I’m in,” Chuck murmured. “Will fuck you. Whatever you want.”

Raleigh gave him a big, bright smile and then kissed him. He dragged his lips over Chuck’s mouth and pressed in softly. Chuck sighed into it.

* * *

Raleigh sighed when he saw that there was a text message from Yancy on his phone from the night prior. Just one, though, so maybe it was about something pertinent - Yancy reminding him of something he had promised to do today around the house while he had the day off. At least Yancy had followed through and done the dishes before he fucked off to wherever he was going - Raleigh was pretty sure he mentioned getting drinks on a patio with a woman named Celia, but you could never be sure with Yancy.

Alright, Raleigh thought, and he opened the message.

 _Am writing strongly worded letter of complaint to Bose re: claims regarding noise canceling headphones_ the text read.

Raleigh grinned.


	12. Chapter 12

Neither of them had the intention of getting drunk - but it wasn’t like there was much else to do. Stacker and Herc had taken Lucy to a children’s theater performance, Raleigh was out of town visiting relatives, and Mako had been the one who suggested that they make a cocktail. “Aren’t you usually in to wine?” Chuck asked.

“Yes,” Mako said. “But I received...a difficult review today, of my project.” She stared at Chuck, daring him to say something.

“Well,” Chuck said. “Did they tell you how to improve?”

“Yes,” Mako said, as she followed the directions to make Lynchburg Lemonade - though Chuck couldn’t help but think that she was pouring far too much whiskey into it. Not that he was going to object.

“So, you just take that and show them you know how to improve and get better,” Chuck said. Mako narrowed her eyes at him and poured him a large glass. Chuck sipped it. Definitely heavy on the alcohol.

“Yes, that is what my internship coordinator told me at school,” Mako replied. Chuck nodded - of course Mako would immediately e-mail whoever she was assigned to when she got the criticism to make sure that she responded in the right fashion. “Do you want to find something to watch on television?”

“Yes,” Chuck said, because Mako always found the most ridiculous things - her secret shame was her addiction to bad reality television shows, and Chuck had once overheard her having a passionate argument with a visiting college friend over which season of America’s Next Top Model was the best.

“This is my favorite,” she said, settling for something called Fatal Attractions. Chuck thought it would be about people who killed their lovers - but it turned out to be so much better.

“Wait, he has nine nile monitor lizards that just live in the house with him?” Chuck asked. “That is asking for it - of course they're going to fucking eat him.”

“We can watch this on Netflix,” Mako said. “I will show you the episode where the man’s python nearly squeezes his teenage daughter to death.”

They watched two episodes and drank a large amount of whiskey, so it wasn’t surprising that things just degenerated into a conversation. “What do you have to gain from having a snake as a pet?” Mako asked, scratching Max’s head. She looked down at him. “Hmmm?” Max just looked up at her, unsure.

“If you had paid attention, Mako, you would notice that was a point of discussion during the show-”

“Oh, yes, because you have such a good attention span,” Mako replied. She nodded at the tablet he had in his lap.

“I am talking to Raleigh,” he said.

Mako stretched out on the couch. “Yes, that is going well,” she said. “More to drink?” Chuck nodded.

“Were you being derisive?” he asked when he came back with the whiskey and some ginger ale, since they’d run out of lemonade. He made a note - he was going to have to get Herc some more.

“No, you appear to be happy,” Mako said. “Your first relationship, and you are doing well, even though he is…”

“He is what?” Chuck asked, pouring Mako’s drink.

“He is very sweet,” Mako said. “His brother is a bit...something. And your co-worker.”

“Yeah, I wondered about leaving him alone with you lot,” Chuck said. Mako furrowed her brow and then shook her head.

“Father is most impressed with him,” she said. “He does not often feel this way about clients.” Chuck nodded, imagining Stacker having the same feelings towards Herc, along with physical attraction - fuck, he would have to have beat Herc in the head to get him to realize the attraction was mutual. “Do you know how they met?”

“Yes, he came to the ropes course-”

“No, Stacker and dad,” Chuck said.

“In Afghanistan,” Mako said. Chuck nodded. “They ran a mission together and it went poorly, I believe. They had to survive with four other men from their helicopter crew for two days in the snow and desert. Father was very impressed with your father, and when they later found themselves at the same base…”

“Yeah, but Herc isn’t exactly...on the ball, that sort of thing,” Chuck said.

“Ah,” said Mako. “I suppose so. This is…” she was blushing, Chuck realized, and yeah, it might be a strange conversation to have, but they were their fathers. “I remember many long distance conversations.”

“Then, oh, hey, Chuck, we’re moving to the States. Because I met a man.” Chuck shook his head. That, that was definitely the most awkward conversation.

“Oh Herc,” said Mako. “Well, you met your boyfriend at your sister’s preschool.”

“Sister cousin,” Chuck said.

“I do not like how she says this,” Mako said. “It makes it sound as though we are horribly inbred. Like show dogs.” She looked down at Max, who had fallen asleep comfortably in her lap.

“Max is not inbred,” Chuck said. “I guess. I like that it just shuts down questions from people, though. Someday she’s gonna have to learn more about it, though, beyond _Your father didn’t think he would be a good dad so you came to live with us instead._ ”

“It will have to be father to have that conversation,” Mako said. “It would take Herc hours to get it out.”

“We have other skills,” Chuck replied.

“Oh?” Mako asked, and hiccuped. “I should think so.”

“You’re being salacious,” Chuck said.

“Oh, are you going to use your big Cornell words on me?” Mako asked. Chuck just shook his head - he wasn’t going to touch that. “How do you decide, anyway?”

“They were the best academic school to give me a scholarship-”

Mako was turning red, though, so that wasn’t what she was after. “No, I mean, with another man...and it is your first time, and...how do you pick?” Chuck couldn’t believe that this had exited her mouth, and he was pretty sure his eyebrows shot into his forehead.

“Really?” Chuck asked. Mako nodded. “You just talk about it?” Slash your boyfriend pins you down and you realize you have a huge thing for getting dominated and fucked. “I guess, uh, some people like...you know.”

They both looked at each other, the same question rising in their heads. Mako opened her mouth slightly and then shook her head. Chuck was just drunk enough, though. “Oh, c’mon, you have to have-”

“I believe it is clear that father is on top,” Mako said.

“I don’t think it’s clear,” Chuck replied.

“Why not? I would think, given their relationship-”

“Doesn’t mean that’s how they fuck,” Chuck said, and, yes, he might be enjoying this a bit too much.

“You are now an expert?” she said. “You have one boyfriend that you fuck and-”

“He fucked me,” Chuck replied. Well, technically they had each had a go, by the time morning came around, but the point was that Chuck really liked it, and if Raleigh had felt otherwise, he probably wouldn’t have switched off.

“Really?” Mako asked. Chuck nodded. “You let him?”

“I didn’t let him, I wanted - so, my point is, just because Stacker’s you know, the more dominant personality, doesn’t mean Herc isn’t tying him to the bed when we’re asleep and fucking him senseless.” Mako was an amazing shade of red and Chuck grinned at her, feeling himself blush as well - he did not need that image in his head but now it was there, in full technicolor detail.

“Let us never speak of this again,” Mako said.

“Agreed,” said Chuck. “More whiskey?”

“Definitely,” said Mako.

* * *

“chuck.” The voice was small, but insistent. Chuck wasn’t certain where it was originating from. Somewhere outside of the bed. “Chuck.” He rolled over and pulled the pillow over his head. If he ignored it, it would go away. Max grunted his assent. “CHUCK.”

Clearly Stacker had sent her. “Yes, Lucy-boo?” he asked, hoping that using her nickname would mollify her.

“Daddy says you should get your lazy butt up cause we are having waffles,” Lucy said, and then promptly jumped onto him in the bed.

“That is great,” said Chuck.

“Dad says you prolly need the waffles cause you and Mako became very good friends with Mr. Daniels last night,” Lucy added. Chuck made a note that he was going to have to be increasingly careful about what he said around Lucy. She was taking it all in like a sponge. “Chuck is that your boyfriend?”

“No,” said Chuck, and realized that Max was wiggling his way up and over his ass in order to get to Lucy’s face.

“Max is kissing me!”

“Great,” said Chuck. “Your first kiss.”

“No,” said Lucy. “I kissed Jacinda when we got married last week.”

“Really?” Chuck asked, and he kind of laughed.

“Don’t laugh,” said Lucy, pulling the pillow off of his head and peering at him. “Girls can marry girls and boys can marry boys. Like how dad and daddy are married.”

Oh brave new world, Chuck thought, and groaned as the light invaded the cocoon he had created for himself. “Chuck! WAFFLES.”

“Morning, Chuck,” said Herc, and he grinned at him and then nudged Mako a bit as he set the table. Mako had her head in her hands. “Could have invited us to the party.”

“It wasn’t a party,” said Chuck.

“Well, you must have found something interesting talk about after a while,” Herc said. Mako met Chuck’s eyes and then looked down and shook her head. Stacker poured some batter into the waffle iron and smiled when Lucy entered with Max trotting behind her, Ms. Doge in her grasp.

“You had a party when I was gone?” Lucy asked.

“Chuck and I watched bad television,” said Mako. “And we drank whiskey.”

“That’s an adult drink,” said Herc. Chuck grinned, remembering how Herc use to call alcohol his daddy juice when Lucy had been younger.

“Oh,” said Lucy. “Is it any good?”

“No,” said Chuck and Mako.

“You’re better off with waffles,” said Stacker. Herc hummed his assent.

* * *

It took awhile, but Chuck was pretty sure that he had come up with something. It was a grand, sweeping gesture, but, combined with his openness in bed, he hoped this communicated to Raleigh that he wasn’t a complete asshole.

“Hey,” he said, turning up with a six-pack of beer. It was a work night, after all, and it was probably advisable to not look like a reprobate when your sort-of boss - no matter what he said about this personal assistant bullshit, Yancy was clearly running to show - was your boyfriend’s brother.

Raleigh kissed him and took the beer. “Mmm, I missed you this weekend,” he said.

“Your sister’s doing well, though?” The littlest Becket sounded like she was a complete handful - more Yancy than Raleigh, but with Raleigh’s unmitigated enthusiasm for things.

“Yeah, seems like she’s really enjoying Chicago, so...and she’s got a really good job, now, so-”

“Tattooing, right?” Chuck asked, to demonstrate that he had paid attention to previous conversations.

“Yeah,” Raleigh said. “She’s really good, so...I might just let her get to me someday.” Chuck arched an eyebrow at that - he couldn’t really imagine Raleigh with a tattoo, but he could imagine a few places where it would look pretty hot. “I’ll get popcorn,” Raleigh added.

“So, I got a movie for us from Netflix,” Chuck said.

“Oh, wow, really? Look at you - I thought you were too young to know what DVDs were,” Raleigh said. Chuck took a sip from his beer and shook his head at Raleigh. “Do you know there was a time when we had to go to a physical store to get them?”

“You’re aging yourself,” Chuck said. Raleigh just arched an eyebrow at him.

“You like it,” Raleigh said. “Dating a distinguished older gentlemen.”

“Gentlemen?” Chuck asked. “Really? After the last time we-”

“Shoosh,” said Raleigh, and he sat down next to Chuck and handed him the bowl of popcorn. “What did you rent?” Chuck handed the envelope to Raleigh. “The Devil Wears Prada?”

“Yeah,” Chuck said. “I’ve never, uh, seen it.”

“Riight,” Raleigh said, and he gave him a slight little smile. “Well, um, you might like it? We’ll see.”

Chuck wasn’t that fond of it - there were some funny moments, and Meryl Streep was really good, and now he could at least make a few more jokes in Yancy’s direction. He preferred how he was able to slot in with Raleigh, being the one who curled into him as Raleigh draped his shoulder over him. For someone so muscular, Raleigh was surprisingly comfortable, though his opinion might have been influenced by how fucking it good it felt to have Raleigh run his fingers through his hair.

“We can watch a really manly movie next, I promise,” Raleigh said. “Like Die Hard. Or Top Gun.”

“I haven’t actually seen-”

“What? Seriously? Dude,” Raleigh said. “Dude.” He shook his head. “We’re gonna have to have a movie night.”

“Isn’t this a movie night?” Chuck asked, but Raleigh took his hand and then helped him shift over so that he could kiss him on the mouth.

“Requires multiple movies,” Raleigh murmured.

“Oh,” said Chuck. “OK.”

He got stripped of his shirt on the couch, fairly quickly, and Raleigh was soon running his hand over Chuck’s chest. “Mmm, I love this,” Raleigh said, and then he thumbed at Chuck’s nipple until it hardened. Chuck inhaled.

“My furry freckled ginger chest?” Chuck asked.

“Mmmhmm,” Raleigh said, and then his mouth was on Chuck’s nipple and he twisted his tongue over it. His hand palmed at Chuck’s half-hard cock, quickly grinding into it until it was fully hard.

“Raleigh…” Chuck said. Raleigh just grinned at him then shifted so he could get off the couch. Chuck trotted after him to the bedroom and basically tackled Raleigh down. Raleigh grinned up at him as Chuck pinned his wrists so Raleigh couldn’t get too wriggly on him - he really was like a puppy, in more ways than one - and so he was able to control the kiss between them.

“Chuck, feels so good,” Raleigh said, when Chuck began to kiss down his neck. He ground against Chuck, his cock hard in his jeans, and Chuck pressed down onto him to pin him further. “You keep that up, Chuck…”

“What?” Chuck asked, and he swirled his hips to get better contact between their cocks. Raleigh just groaned and Chuck released him, mostly because he wanted to get both their pants and underwear off. Chuck got a little tangled while he tried to do it and Raleigh laughed, grabbed Chuck’s waistband and tugged it all the way down. Chuck fell onto him in a beat of a heap and kissed at Raleigh’s neck.

“Aren’t you eager?”

“Haven’t seen you in a week,” Chuck replied. Since they had - and no, he hadn’t worried about that at all.

“True,” Raleigh said. He guided Chuck down onto his back and he pulled out some lube and coated his hand, then reached and took Chuck’s cock. His stroked slowly, put his other hand on Chuck’s balls and rolled them. “Fuck, you are gorgeous,” he said. He smiled down at him and Chuck felt himself shiver a little bit. His hand drifted behind Chuck’s balls and Chuck groaned at the touch.

“I-” Chuck began, and then Raleigh increased his stroke and began to kiss down his body. “Raleigh?”

“I want to suck your cock, Chuck,” Raleigh said, like they were talking about anything, and somehow, this made it hotter.

“OK,” Chuck said, and Raleigh put his mouth around him and slowly began to work his way up and down. Chuck wanted to know what he was doing down there, how he could make Chuck feel so maddening good and hard and needy by just swirling his tongue and working his lips. He rocked his hips, slightly, wanted more of Raleigh’s mouth, and Raleigh groaned and put a hand on Chuck’s chest - which Chuck took for assent, so he rocked a little harder. Raleigh’s mouth felt amazing, warm, perfect around his cock, but this was soon going to turn counterproductive given that Chuck wanted more. “Raleigh, I want to...”

“Fuck me?” Raleigh asked, looking up.

“Well - uh, yes?” Chuck said, and Raleigh grinned at him. Bastard, Chuck thought. Clever little bastard. Raleigh kissed up him, slow, and then kissed his mouth before rolling onto his back. Chuck exhaled and reached for the lube. He’d filed away everything from last time, remembered what he did with his fingers that made Raleigh moan.

“Fuck, fuck, that’s so - Chuck!” Raleigh groaned as Chuck spread him and then curled his fingers. “You fucking tease!” Chuck grinned, ghosting against Raleigh’s prostate again and then fucking him with his fingers. “Uh, get your cock in me.” Chuck pulled back to get a condom and groaned at what Raleigh did next.

He rolled onto his stomach and then pulled himself up to his knees, ass high and in the air. “Oh, fuck,” Chuck murmured, and he pressed Raleigh down a bit to get the angle right before guiding himself inside of him.

The first time had been...well, quick, and it would have been quicker if Raleigh hadn’t thoroughly fucked him the night before. This time it was better, he wasn’t immediately overwhelmed by the snug fit of Raleigh around his cock and how warm he was. He leaned over Raleigh and put his hands on his hips. “You feel so good,” he said, sliding all the way in.

He guided Raleigh’s hips in rhythm with his own, and Raleigh moved back against him as well. “Love your cock, Chuck, it’s so...fuck! Just let me-” Raleigh dropped, then, put his head down onto his arms and moved back against Chuck. “Yeah, that’s - that’s so good. Uh! There! Chuck, right there, that’s so fucking - uh!”

Chuck stroked a hand down Raleigh’s back and dug his fingers into his hips, then reached forward and grabbed at his cock. Raleigh was taking him easily but still tight. Raleigh turned his head to the side and met Chuck’s eye with this lazy, beautiful smile and his hair a little damp and in his face. “More, Chuck, I can...more…”

Chuck thrust harder, deeper, shifted how he was bearing his weight to get some more traction and then both of them were issuing deep moans. “Raleigh - I’m...I’m going to-”

“Good, Chuck, you’re so good, just like that,” Raleigh said, almost encouraging him through the orgasm as he was buried deep inside of him. Chuck did his best to keep stroking Raleigh’s cock but his movements were jerky for a long while after his orgasm - but once he got it together it didn’t take long.

Chuck pulled out and flopped down next to Raleigh. He moaned as Raleigh stroked his hair again. “You like that?” Raleigh asked, and he smiled at him and kissed him gently. “You’re so cute.”

“Cute?” Chuck asked. “I am-”

“You’re cute, Chuck, in some circumstances, it’s best if you just accept it,” Raleigh said. “Besides, what’s wrong with cute - I get cute all the time.” Chuck narrowed his eyes - he supposed he could see it, when Raleigh was younger. Before he had such muscles. “You’re a cute, freckled, furry ginger,” Raleigh said, and Chuck squirmed and tried to get in a whack at him but Raleigh countered, wrestled him until he had Chuck in the little spoon position. He wrapped his arm around him and pulled him tight. “There, there, Chuck,” he said.

“I hate you,” Chuck replied.

“I know,” Raleigh said.

* * *

Chuck took some cookies before he sat down for the preschool graduation ceremony. Stacker was chatting with one of the mom’s - probably one of the ones who, like, thought of the hot dads while she was getting off - and Herc was plopped down next to Chuck, looking through the program. “Is this really necessary?” Chuck asked.

“There’s going to be a song,” Herc said. “Also - Lucy came to your graduation.”

“You left her at the hotel with the babysitter,” Chuck replied.

“Well, it was, like, four hours. And she sure was pissed about missing out on hearing Ruth Bader Ginsburg speak.” Chuck shook his head and handed Herc a cookie.

“They have Reese cups baked in them,” he said, as Stacker finally sat down next to them.

“This better not be one of those ceremonies where everyone gets a damn award,” he said.

“Right, best start teaching kids early that-” Herc began, but was shushed by someone right behind them.

One of the other preschool teachers began the ceremony - Chuck tried to figure out if it was her, or the other female teacher, who had tried to take Ms. Doge away. The first one didn’t seem to be the type, carefully leading the three assembled graduating classes through a sort of chaotic but charming song. The next teacher got up and thanked some of the parents and congratulated the students. “And now, I’ll pass things over to Mr. Becket, who will read the names of our graduates.”

Chuck clapped especially hard - it was hard to see Raleigh in his teacher context after everything. Especially after making eye contact with him while he sucked his cock. Still, Raleigh had a certain way of carrying himself when he was in teacher mode. He was also pretty good at reading the kid’s name in a timely fashion while the other teachers handed out the diplomas. “Lucy Hansen-Pentecost,” he said. Herc whistled.

“Oh, honestly,” said a parent behind them.

“What?” Herc said. “That’s my girl.” Pentecost turned and stared at the objecting parent, who most have been suitably terrified. As he should be. Stacker had killed a goat with his bare hands once in Afghanistan.

“Dad! Daddy! Chuck!” Lucy called, running for them. Herc immediately scooped her up and twirled her around.

“Very proud of you, Lucy,” said Stacker.

“Why?” Lucy asked. “It was just preschool, dad.”

“The real challenge does come from kindergarten,” Chuck said.

“Mako is going to meet us for ice cream,” Stacker said. “So say goodbye to who you want to, so she’s not waiting.” Lucy nodded her head and carefully maneuvered amongst parents and kids, saying goodbye to a few of her friends and proudly holding Ms. Doge for a few of the parents to pet.

“She’s going to Talbert next year, right?” asked the twins mother. She made Chuck jump - he’d avoided her, after she had suggested he looked like he needed a cup of coffee one morning and like she would be more than happy to buy it for them.

“No,” Herc said. “We decided on River Creek.”

“Oh, well…” said the twin’s mother - as though Herc was some kind of mutant. Chuck was really glad he had missed the great private vs. public elementary school battle. Their school district was one of the best in the state, but, just like when he bought the family car, Stacker only wanted the best for Lucy after legally agreeing to be her father. “How are you doing, Chuck?”

“Great,” said Chuck, but he was watching as Lucy went up to Mr. Becket and waited patiently for her turn to talk to him. She looked sort of devastated as he kept having to turn and shake hands with another parent, so he nodded at Herc and Stacker and walked over.

For whatever reason his advance seemed to disperse the last group of parents, and Raleigh gave him a relieved grin. “MR. BECKET!” said Lucy.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Lucy, I didn’t see you there,” Raleigh said.

“I’m sorry I graduated,” Lucy said. Raleigh blinked. “I want to stay in your class.”

“Oh, well,” Raleigh said. “You have lots of new things to learn - you and Ms. Doge, both, and you’ll learn them in kindergarten.”

“I know,” Lucy said. She gave her best pout and opened her eyes wide at Raleigh. “I will miss you.”

“Good news, then,” said Herc - fucking ninja, Chuck thought, where had he come from? “I’m sure you’ll be seeing Mr. Becket again, oi?”

“Oh,” said Raleigh, and he looked from Herc to Chuck and then nodded. “Um, yeah, I should, uh...yes.”

“Why?” Lucy asked, suspicious.

“I’ll tell you, but only if you keep quiet,” Herc said. Lucy nodded at him and Chuck closed his eyes as Herc leaned down and whispered in her ear. Chuck opened them when there was no piercing shriek to meet the announcement of the good news.

“Really?” Lucy said, and then looked from Raleigh to Chuck and back to Raleigh. “Why?”

“Why?” Chuck asked. Little shit, he thought.

“Valid question,” Herc said. Raleigh laughed, though it was nervous.

“You know Chuck sleeps with Max, right?” Lucy asked.

“Yes,” Raleigh said.

“His farts are real smelly,” said Lucy.

“Chuck or Max?” Raleigh asked, and Lucy giggled and did her best to look scandalized as Stacker walked over. “Good to know, either way.”

Lucy nodded, but she still seemed to be completely perplexed by the whole thing. Chuck couldn’t help but feel a bit miffed - he was really letting a four year-old’s judgment get to him?

“C’mon, Lucy, let’s get in the car,” Herc said, and Chuck was relieved to have a moment or so with Raleigh.

“I can’t believe-”

“You’re her brother,” Raleigh said. “Probably best she doesn’t see you as some sort of, uh, someone with romantic potential.”

“Good save,” Chuck said.

“Well,” Raleigh replied. “I do what I can.”

Chuck nodded - there were plenty of things he could say, then, but instead he just met Raleigh’s eyes and hoped that would be enough. Raleigh’s slight nod seemed to indicate that he understood, and Chuck gave him a slight smile. “I need to go and get ice cream,” he said.

“Sure, sure,” Raleigh replied. “Whatever you need to do, Chuck.” Chuck glanced around and, most of the parents having dispersed, leaned in and gave Raleigh a gentle kiss on the lips. Raleigh grinned at him. “See you later?”

“Absolutely,” Chuck said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you all much for your comments and encouragement throughout! I had a blast writing this, mostly because of your feedback and input...


	13. epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lied, and forgot to post the epilogue - should not post right before bed. My apologies. But this really is it!

Herc kissed Stacker, hard, pressing Stacker back against the kitchen counter and plunging his tongue into Stacker’s mouth.

There were, he knew, going to be times when he missed having all the kids home, now that Mako was back at MIT, Chuck had his own apartment, and Lucy would soon be starting full-day kindergarten. On the other hand…

“Do you hear that?” Stacker asked, as Herc slid his lips down his neck.

“No,” said Herc. 

“It’s like a little...like there’s something moving around upstairs.” 

Herc pulled back and narrowed his eyes. There was a slight sound.

“Kid didn’t forget Max, did he?” Stacker asked.

“Nope, left Max sniffing around his new yard,” Herc said.

“Something is upstairs,” Lucy said, stepping into the kitchen with Ms. Doge in her hands. 

“Maybe a squirrel got in?” Herc said. 

“Ms. Doge will help!” Lucy said.

“I’ll go get a net,” Stacker said, closing his eyes and exhaling. 

They went up the stairs together, Lucy excited at the possibility of catching a squirrel. Stacker led, net in hand, and Herc tried his hardest not to laugh at the determined expression on his face. 

“Now, it might fly out the door,” said Stacker. “So I’ll stand back here, and you open it.”

“OK,” Herc said. He opened the door slowly and they all stood there when nothing came out. There was a low whine from inside, though, and Lucy poked her head in.

“PUPPY.” 

“What?” Herc asked, as she bolted past him. He looked back at Stacker, whose mouth had dropped open and, if he were a cartoon character, was about to have steam pour out of his ears. Herc looked inside.

“IT IS A PUPPY!” Lucy said, holding a small, brown, mushy looking thing in her arms. The puppy was wagging its tail and squirming, and then finally managed to turn and lick Lucy’s face vigorously.

“That little-” Stacker began, before Herc clamped a hand over his mouth. 

There was also a small bed, squeaky toys, and a little piddle pad on the floor. Herc’s mind boggled as Lucy squealed and danced around with the puppy - how had they managed to sneak it in without him or Stacker noticing? It was sort of impressive, really.

“I’m going to name him Max!” Lucy said.

“But-” Stacker began, but Herc stopped him from speaking again.

“Let me see, Lucy-boo?” he said. He crouched down and Lucy reluctantly handed him the puppy. “Looks like a girl,” he said, pulling the puppies lower legs apart. The puppy licked his face.

“Max is a girl’s name too,” Lucy said. 

Herc looked back at Stacker and raised his eyebrows and shrugged his shoulders. No way they could send the puppy back, his look said. Stacker huffed and stepped out of the room, presumably to call Chuck to lambast him. He closed the door on them.

“Sure,” Herc said. “But there already is a Max - won’t it be confusing when he visits?”

“It will be easy,” said Lucy. “You can just say, Max, dinner! And they’ll both come. Or, Max, outside! And they’ll both go outside.” She beamed at Herc, clearly pleased with herself. “Look Ms. Doge, you have a sister!”

Herc grinned when he heard the muffled shouting outside the room. “You are right,” he said, and handed the puppy back to Lucy. “You have to promise to help out with Max, though,” Herc said.

Lucy’s eyes widened and she nodded solemnly at him. Herc scrunched the puppy’s ears and smiled. Well played, Chuck, he thought.


End file.
